‘Big Dumper’ Cal Raleigh goes viral for toilet seat autograph at Little League World Series

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is on track for a historic season after his continued brilliance at the plate. The All-Star catcher is leading the home run charts, making a strong case for the American League MVP title.

Ahead of the Mariners' Little League Classic against the New York Mets on Sunday, Cal Raleigh signed autographs for young fans. During his fan interaction, Raleigh, who has embraced his 'big dumper' nickname, signed a toilet seat.

The Mariners star signing the seat without hesitation drew huge cheers from the fans and the clip shared by MLB went viral on Instagram.

"The autograph of all autographs," MLB captioned the post.

While Cal Raleigh never played in the Little League World Series, the Mariners All-Star paid tribute to the LLWS by wearing a custom chest protector for Sunday's game. The protector featured images of his teammates and the Mariners' staff from their time in the Little League.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh credits girlfriend Hannah Shimek for helping with custom chest protector for Little League Classic

Cal Raleigh smashed his MLB-leading 47th home run against the Mets on Sunday, wearing his custom chest protector. Raleigh said the idea for the custom gear was planned with his girlfriend, Hannah Shimek.

"This is months in advance, because it takes a while to produce that stuff. So just trying to think of cool stuff to do for players’ weekend and Little League,” Raleigh said. “Obviously it was a special day, so it kind of fit.

“It was like, ‘Make a catcher’s chest protector with baseball cards on it. Not specific cards, but like, ‘Oh, that’d be kind of a cool idea.’ So that’s kind of where it started. There was no prototype.”

Shimek reportedly brought the idea to life, using AI to make the final product. The Mariners catcher made the gesture more special by smashing a home run on the night, although Seattle lost 7-3 in the series decider.

About the author

Chaitanya Prakash is an editor who covers US Sports at Sportskeeda. His first brush with sportswriting was in 2012 when the greatest football manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson, bid farewell to the beautiful game.

Although having started out professionally as a cricket writer in 2022, Chaitanya's curiosity and indiscriminate interest in all sports in general eventually introduced him to America's favorite pastime.

While Chaitanya's favorite player from the current crop is the dynamic Venezuelan Ronald Acuna Jr., his all-time favorite, however, is Pedro Martinez, for his self-belief and consistency. He also rates Jose Bautista's iconic bat flip in 2015 as his favorite moment in baseball history.

Chaitanya specializes in reporting on technical aspects of the game or analyzing patterns behind specific plays. He also likes pondering over players' self-assessments following the conclusion of a game as it helps him get an idea of how they think about the sport in general.

When not cheering for his favorites across sports, Chaitanya likes being transported to the past through a good war documentary or a historical documentary in general.

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash