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Bryce Harper rips baseball’s unwritten rules: ‘It’s a tired sport’ – USA TODAY

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Reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper took aim at baseball’s “unwritten rules,” age-old decrees that the Washington Nationals outfielder has often been accused of violating.

“Baseball’s tired,” Harper told ESPN The Magazine. “It’s a tired sport, because you can’t express yourself. You can’t do what people in other sports do. I’m not saying baseball is, you know, boring or anything like that, but it’s the excitement of the young guys who are coming into the game now who have flair.”

Harper, 23, has never shied away from criticizing the unwritten rules, including last season when teammate Jonathan Papelbon drilled Baltimore’s Manny Machado after Machado apparently took a little too long to get around the bases on a home run he hit in a previous at bat.

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Harper advocates violating the code because, well, baseball needs it.

“If a guy pumps his fist at me on the mound, I’m going to go, ‘Yeah, you got me. Good for you. Hopefully I get you next time,’” Harper told the magazine. “That’s what makes the game fun. You want kids to play the game, right? What are kids playing these days? Football, basketball. Look at those players – Steph Curry, LeBron James. It’s exciting to see those players in those sports. Cam Newton – I love the way Cam goes about it. He smiles, he laughs. It’s that flair. The dramatic.”

Papelbon certainly didn’t take too kindly to Harper’s comments about Machado or the fact he didn’t run out a fly-out a few days later in late-season game. Papelbon confronted Harper, igniting a dugout scuffle that saw Papelbon grab Harper’s throat.

Papelbon was suspended four games and issued an apology to Harper and the rest of the team at the start of spring training.

Harper told ESPN The Magazine that he shouldn’t have told reporters that Papelbon hitting Machado with a pitch was a mistake in his eyes, but he added the culture of the game should change and emotion should be embraced.

“Jose Fernandez is a great example,” said Harper of the Miami Marlins pitcher who got in an epic stare-off with Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth last season. “Jose Fernandez will strike you out and stare you down into the dugout and pump his fist. And if you hit a homer and pimp it? He doesn’t care. Because you got him. That’s part of the game. It’s not the old feeling – hoorah … if you pimp a homer, I’m going to hit you right in the teeth. No. If a guy pimps a homer for a game-winning shot … I mean – sorry.”