2014 SI Sportsman of the Year: Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner

San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner had a performance for the ages in the 2014 postseason, earning him this year's SI Sportsman of the Year Award.

The 25-year-old lefthander threw a record 52 2/3 innings in the playoffs and gave up just six earned runs for an absurd 1.03 ERA. He struck out 45 batters in his seven appearances, walking only six and giving up 28 hits.

In Game 7 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, Bumgarner came on in relief of starter Tim Hudson on just two days rest after throwing a 117-pitch, four-hit shutout in Game 5. What he did over the next five innings (two hits, four strikeouts, no walks) will certainly go down in baseball lore.

Sportsman Triple Play: Get reprints of Bumgarner's SI covers

The Royals simply had no answer and could do nothing with the majority of his 68 pitches, enabling the Giants to leave Kansas City a World Champion for the third time in five years.

Bumgarner is the first San Francisco Giant and the seventh MLB pitcher (Johnny Podres '55, Sandy Koufax '65, Tom Seaver '69, Orel Hershiser '88, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson '01) to win the award. In all, there have been 15 baseball selections — 14 players and the 2004 Boston Red Sox. The most recent was Derek Jeter in '09.

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"It's easy to mythologize the small-town sports hero. Baseball, especially, is full of them," Sports Illustrated Managing Editor Chris Stone said. "Madison Bumgarner isn't the Sportsman of the Year because he's from a tiny town, but that town goes a long way toward defining who he is and it gives his story a different texture from past Sportsmen. And while he's been an outstanding pitcher for the last five years, his Sportsman candidacy was so sudden and seemingly out of nowhere that it makes him the most unique Sportsman in recent memory."

2014 Sports Illustrated covers

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Bumgarner, on his 6-foot-5 inch, 235-pound frame, simply carried the Giants to victory. In his two World Series starts, he pitched 16 innings, with the Royals hitting just .156 off of him. The other three starters for the Giants (Hudson, Jake Peavy, Ryan Vogelsong) pitched 16 1/3 innings with an ERA of 9.92 and an opponents' batting average of .351.

"The legend of Madison Bumgarner fits neatly in the space where we keep our idea of the archetypal outdoorsy, countrified man, where also reside the embellished, fictionalized Boone [North Carolina] and Mayberry’s Sheriff Andy Taylor. It’s just that in Bumgarner’s case, the stories are true," SI’s Tom Verducci writes.

For more on Bumgarner, check out Verducci’s story in this week’s Sports Illustrated (subscribe here).

Sportsman of the Year covers

Sportsperson of the Year Winners

2022

Stephen Curry

2021

Tom Brady

2020

Naomi Osaka

2020

LeBron James

2020

Patrick Mahomes

2020

Breanna Stewart

2020

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif

2019

Megan Rapinoe

2018

Golden State Warriors

2017

José Altuve and J.J. Watt

2016

LeBron James

2015

Serena Williams

2014

Madison Bumgarner

2013

Peyton Manning

2012

LeBron James

2011

Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski

2010

Drew Brees

2009

Derek Jeter

2008

Michael Phelps

2007

Brett Favre

2006

Dwyane Wade

2005

Tom Brady

2004

Boston Red Sox

2003

Tim Duncan and David Robinson

2002

Lance Armstrong

2001

Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson

2000

Tiger Woods

1999

U.S. Women’s Soccer Team

1998

Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa

1997

Dean Smith

1996

Tiger Woods

1995

Cal Ripken Jr.

1994

Bonnie Blair and Johann Olav Koss

1993

Don Shula

1992

Arthur Ashe

1991

Michael Jordan

1990

Joe Montana

1989

Greg LeMond

1988

Orel Hershiser

1987

Rory Sparrow, Patty Sheehan, Reggie Williams, Chip Rives, Bob Bourne, Judi Brown King, Dale Murphy and Kip Keino

1986

Joe Paterno

1985

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

1984

Mary Lou Retton and Edwin Moses

1983

Mary Decker

1982

Wayne Gretzky

1981

Sugar Ray Leonard

1980

U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

1979

Willie Stargell and Terry Bradshaw

1978

Jack Nicklaus

1977

Steve Cauthen

1976

Chris Evert

1975

Pete Rose

1974

Muhammad Ali

1973

Jackie Stewart

1972

John Wooden and Billie Jean King

1971

Lee Trevino

1970

Bobby Orr

1969

Tom Seaver

1968

Bill Russell

1967

Carl Yastrzemski

1966

Jim Ryun

1965

Sandy Koufax

1964

Ken Venturi

1963

Pete Rozelle

1962

Terry Baker

1961

Jerry Lucas

1960

Arnold Palmer

1959

Ingemar Johansson

1958

Rafer Johnson

1957

Stan Musial

1956

Bobby Morrow

1955

Johnny Podres

1954

Roger Bannister