WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (AP) — Cal Raleigh autographed a toilet seat for one fan, along with the scores of baseballs and other paraphernalia “The Big Dumper” signed for shrieking Little Leaguers.
Raleigh gave the kids a real treat hours later.
The Seattle Mariners slugger socked his 47th homer of the season to boost his major league lead and put him within striking distance of the season homer record for catchers set by Kansas City's Salvador Perez.
“He continues to swing a really hot bat,” Mariners manager
Dan Wilson said. “I don't think I'll ever get tired of that.”
Raleigh's two-run shot in the seventh inning sent hundreds of Little Leaguers from around the globe cheering in delight to see one of the brightest stars in Sunday's MLB Little League Classic go deep.
It didn't help the Mariners much in defeat. The New York Mets beat the Mariners 7-3 and won the last two games of the three-game set.
The Mariners are still in the thick of the AL wild-card race and hope to gain ground when they head Monday to Philadelphia for the start of a three-game series.
Raleigh could make catching history in Philly. Perez hit 48 homers for the Royals in 2021.
“I think it's been an incredible season for him,” Wilson said. “But I think we knew what's in there. He's done a great job of bringing it out.”
Raleigh put more than his prodigious power on display in the home of youth baseball's biggest weeks of the summer. Raleigh’s chest protector featured a baseball card design of Mariners players and coaches from when they were kids. He breezed through the pregame clubhouse in a “Little Dumper” T-shirt gifted by some of the Little Leaguers.
“You grow up wanting to come here as a kid. Get to do it as an adult now,” Raleigh told MLB Network before the game. “It's really fun. Excited to meet the kids and hang out.”
Raleigh power was always evident. He hit 27 homers in 2022, 30 in 2023 and 34 last season. Now he’s on pace to easily top 50 homers and maybe more. There are only five other players in big league history who have hit at least 40 homers while primarily playing catcher: Perez, Johnny Bench (twice), Roy Campanella, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza (twice). Bench, Campanella and Piazza are Hall of Famers.
“He's a guy that we knew all along coming up in the minor leagues that he had a pretty high ceiling,” Wilson said. “What he does behind the plate and what he does now at the plate has been unbelievable. He's carried the weight of both of those things and has done it very well.”
A first-time All-Star at age 28, Raleigh burst through on the national scene when he won the All-Star Home Run Derby. He became the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He’s the second Mariners player to take the title after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.
Raleigh's homer Sunday also gave him 102 RBIs this season. He's the first catcher to record back-to-back 100 RBI seasons since Piazza and and the first American League catcher to reach that feat since Thurman Munson.
Even more milestones await. Maybe even a playoff berth.
“He's just become a better hitter,” Wilson said.
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