So it's back to the mound for the big country kid without a nickname. Weather permitting, Madison Bumgarner will pitch Monday night's series finale in New York, and in the wake of his shiny new Giants contract, this column received a ton of e-mail suggestions on what to call the North Carolina-raised left-hander.

Suffice it to say that the search continues, but here's a sampling:

Boomer: I'm thinking Chris Berman, and that can't be good. Or Esiason.

Mad Dog: From his recent comment, "I get crazy sometimes." But he's known for cool, not rage, on the mound.

Sheriff: Seems it could be his calling after baseball. Wouldn't work if he became a criminal. (Joking.)

Big Country: Good one. Unfortunately, there was Bryant (Big Country) Reeves, who starred at Oklahoma State in the early '90s but never quite panned out in the NBA.

Snake: For the way some of his pitches slither past hitters. Then again: Kenny Stabler.

The Big Bummer: For opponents, maybe, but too negative a connotation.

Cowboy: He comes from rural America, but his part of North Carolina is known for the manufacture of furniture, not horses or cows.

Old Hickory: The best one yet. But there's a problem, and thanks to Madison's mother, Debra Bumgarner, for pointing it out. Although his birthplace is listed as Hickory, N.C., that only applies to the hospital where he was born. He grew up in the nearby town of Baton (Bay-ton) and lived there until he was 9, when his parents built a home in Hudson - the tiny sector of North Carolina known as "Bumtown," because so many Bumgarners lived there over the years.

It was surprising to hear from Debra, for she tends to value her privacy and resist any publicity related to her famous son. An e-mail exchange led to a phone conversation, and she was gracious enough to chat awhile.

How did she and her husband, Kevin, come upon the name Madison?

"There was this book, called 'The Biggest Baby Name Book in the World,' " she said. "Madison was in there on the list of boys names, saying it meant 'the son of a great warrior.' In our family, we take that to mean a son of Jesus Christ; we are all his children.

"Well, it wasn't a year before we started hearing all these little girls named Madison. I figured, when he grows up, he's gonna be mad. But he's never really thought anything of it."

But didn't the other kids make fun of him?

"You know, they really didn't. He was a pretty big kid and always very well-liked. Much like he is now. He was the class clown."

Really? There's an interesting bit of information. Bumgarner has played the understudy's role to perfection around the Giants' clubhouse, never making waves. Maybe we can look forward to seeing his goofball side.

Usually, when a young pro athlete makes a ton of money, he does one of three things: (A) party like crazy until he's broke; (B) buy six or seven mansions, or a fleet of fancy cars; or (C) think first of his family, the first step being to buy his parents a new house.

Debra and Kevin were divorced some 10 years ago (he still lives in Hudson), but neither has any interest in such a thing.

"I don't need a great big fancy house, and don't want one," she said. "Madison insisted on paying off the house I'm in, and I'm quite content with that. I don't think any of this (the five-year contract extension) is going to change who he is. Just to give you an idea, the day he signed with the Giants (2007), I knew about it, and when we talked on the phone, he didn't even mention it. I said, 'I hear congratulations are in order.' And he just said, 'Yeah, thanks. I love you.' "

Debra had raised three children from a previous marriage - two boys and a girl, all of them considerably older than Madison. "After the divorce, by choice he came to live with me, in Lenoir (Leh-nore)," she said. "I'd bought a home there, and that's where I still live. So that's what he considers his hometown."

Aside from the stress of separation, the family has endured untold grief. Debra's daughter, Dena, was 36 years old when she died in 2010, only days after Madison reported to spring training. In the recent flood of publicity surrounding his new contract with the Giants, it's been written that Dena died of cancer, "but that's not right," Debra said. "She died of addiction. She was addicted to prescription drugs, and I don't hide that.

"Dena was a wonderful, beautiful girl, but when she and her husband divorced, she went through some tough times, and the doctor gave her some medicine, and ... some people just have addictive personalities. She got caught up in an addiction she didn't need. She died of an accidental overdose."

This is where, as the conversation came to a close, I came to realize the strength and dignity that holds the Bumgarner family together.

"I'm in the process of adopting a 12-year-old girl who was taken from a home of addiction," Debra said. "It's something I feel very strongly about. In adopting her, maybe I can give her a chance for a better life."

Perhaps it's Madison's mom who needs a nickname: Big Heart.