SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh had so much adrenaline pumping, he couldn’t even hear a crowd of 37,550 chanting “MVP!” following his record-breaking feat.

The Seattle Mariners slugger hit his major league-leading 48th and 49th home runs on Sunday against the Athletics, setting a single-season record for catchers and passing Salvador Perez‘s total with the Kansas City Royals in 2021. After hitting his second home run, which set the watermark for backstops, Raleigh exited the Mariners dugout to doff his helmet.

“With everybody on their feet cheering, I didn’t even notice,” Raleigh said. “It was just a really cool moment to tip the cap. That’s not something you get to do every day.”

Manager Dan Wilson, who has been beyond complimentary of Raleigh all season, had only one complaint about the catcher’s curtain call: That perhaps he didn’t stay out on the field long enough.

“What an incredible feat,” Wilson said after the Mariners beat the Athletics 11-4. “I don’t know that you can fathom how big that is when you look at some of the people he’s passed and just what the magnitude of that record is.”

Raleigh’s record-breaking home run also marked his ninth multi-home run game of the season, passing Mickey Mantle (eight for the 1961 New York Yankees) for most multi-home run games by a switch-hitter in a season in major league history. The overall record is 11 multi-home run games in a season.

The switch-hitting Raleigh, batting from the right side, homered off Athletics left-handed starter Jacob Lopez in the first inning to make it 2-0 and tie Perez. Raleigh got a fastball down the middle from Lopez and sent it an estimated 448 feet, according to Statcast. It was measured as the longest home run of Raleigh’s career as a right-handed hitter.

In the second inning, Raleigh drilled a changeup from Lopez 412 feet. Both blasts prompted “MVP” chants from the hometown crowd.

“Obviously to do it anywhere would be really special,” Raleigh said. “But, to do it here in front of the fans and to give them that and see the appreciation was a really cool moment.”

The longballs were Nos. 39 and 40 on the season for Raleigh while catching this year. He has nine while serving as a designated hitter. Perez hit 15 home runs as a DH in 2021, and 33 at catcher.

Only four other players in big league history have hit at least 40 homers in a season while primarily playing catcher: Johnny Bench (twice), Roy Campanella, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza (twice). Bench, Campanella and Piazza are Hall of Famers.

“I think we’re seeing that he’s starting to set a bar to nobody else that’s done this,” Wilson said. “And, that’s the newsworthy part of this thing is it’s getting to a point where you can’t compare him to anybody. He just keeps pushing that bar higher.”

Raleigh launched 27 homers in 2022, then 30 in 2023 and 34 last season. Should he continue at his powerful pace, Raleigh could become the first American League catcher to lead the major leagues outright in home runs.

A first-time All-Star at age 28, Raleigh burst onto the national scene when he won the All-Star Home Run Derby in July, just four months removed from signing a six-year, $105 million contract extension. He became the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He’s the second Mariners player to take the crown, after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.

With 31 games to go in the regular season, Raleigh also has an excellent chance of passing Griffey’s franchise record of 56 home runs in a season.

Raleigh’s homer gave him 104 RBIs on the season. He’s the first catcher with consecutive 100-RBI seasons since Piazza (1996-2000), and the first American League backstop to accomplish the feat since Thurman Munson (1975-77).

But on Sunday, Raleigh stood alone when it came to major league catching royalty with one counting stat.

“We had a chance to see all-time history today, which is really cool,” Wilson said. “Forty-nine homers this season for a catcher, unbelievable.”