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Scully recalls epic encounter between Bumgarner and snake

Harry How / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Another night, another epic anecdote from Vin Scully.

During the fourth inning of Friday's contest between the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, the inimitable broadcaster treated viewers to a story involving Madison Bumgarner, his wife, an unlucky snake, and a very lucky jackrabbit:

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

For posterity's sake, Scully's retelling has been written out in full, not that a transcription does him any justice:

You know, Bumgarner tells a story which, in a sense, reminds you of what it takes to be a big-league ballplayer. It was two years ago in spring training, and he and his wife were roping cattle, which is what they do - 1-1 pitch; sinker, low; ball two; 2-and-1 - and they were startled by a large snake. And Madison thought it was a rattlesnake so he grabbed an axe and he hacked the snake to pieces. But there's something more to the story. 2-1 pitch; low, ball three; 3-and-1. When his wife, Ali, and an expert field dresser examined what was left of the snake, she found two baby jackrabbits inside pieces of the snake, and extracted them. 3-1 pitch to Turner; way inside, ball four. And after she extracted them a short while later, the Bumgarners noticed that one of the rabbits had moved slightly - it was alive! Well, his wife brought the rabbit back to their apartment; for the next few days, they kept it warm, bottle-nursed it, and the rabbit soon was healthy enough that they released it into the wild. And Madison said, 'Just think about how tough that rabbit was: first, it gets eaten by a snake; then the snake gets chopped to pieces; then it gets picked up by people and lives.' It's all true. Meanwhile, line-drive base hit to center by Kendrick, and the Dodgers are in business: first and second and nobody out. So I guess, really, the moral to the whole story about the rabbit and the snake: you got to somehow survive, you got to somehow battle back. A lesson well-taught for all of us.

It should be noted, however, the interesting tidbit initially came to light via a Tom Verducci SI profile of Bumgarner from 2014.

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