3 San Francisco Giants The Whole Nation Has Fallen In Love With - If Jersey Sales Are Indication
(CBS SF) -- The San Francisco Giants recent success on the field are making their players a lot more recognizable and their merchandise much more in demand. Here are three Giants players fans can't get enough of, based on their jersey sales for the first half of the 2015 season.
Madison Bumgarner
It's hard to believe MadBum has been pitching for the Giants since 2009, making his debut at age 20. Now that he has shattered postseason pitching records and won numerous awards and accolades, Bumgarner's #40 jersey leads all MLB jersey sales in the first half of the 2015 season, according to MLB.com/shop.
Young players like the 25-year-old Bumgarner are gaining in popularity, with six out of the top 10 players on the jersey sales being 26 years old or younger.
Buster Posey
Is there any doubt Posey is the face of MLB (He won the award after all)? How many more awards and career highlights can #28 attain? 3-time champion, 3-time All-Star, League MVP, League batting champion, Rookie of the Year, and it goes on. He's caught a few no-hitters during his seven seasons in the league.
Posey is No. 3 in jersey sales this season, but with the kind of tear he is on right now, he might end up being on top again by the end of the season, either in jersey sales or in the standings.
Hunter Pence
What is surprising is that Pence's #8 jersey is only 6th on the list of jersey sales. What other player can approach his oratory motivating, social media manuevering, scooter-riding, meme-generating, kale-indulging, goofy awkwardness?
Giants fans and Pence jersey wearers can only look forward to more of Pence-being-Pence, even (and especially) if that means another epic f-bomb-laden postgame locker room speech (for which he apologized, so more good on him).
MLB TOP JERSEY SALES – 2015 Season (MLB.com/shop)
Madison Bumgarner, Giants
Kris Bryant, Cubs
Buster Posey, Giants
Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Bryce Harper, Nationals
Hunter Pence, Giants
Mike Trout, Angels
Matt Harvey, Mets
David Ortiz, Red Sox
Anthony Rizzo, Cubs
Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
Yadier Molina, Cardinals
Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
Felix Hernandez, Mariners
Todd Frazier, Reds
Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
David Wright, Mets=
Albert Pujols, Angels
Max Scherzer, Nationals
Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers
Carlos E. Castañeda is Senior Editor, News & Social Media for CBS San Francisco and a San Francisco native. You can follow him on Twitter or send him an email.