Make no mistake about it, Bryce Harper is fed up with baseball’s unwritten rules. And emboldened by a season where he was unanimously awarded the National League MVP, the Washington Nationals star is ready to unleash on those restraints like he does on a fastball left up over the middle of the plate.
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In a lengthy profile written by ESPN The Magazine’s Tim Keown, Harper takes on the code that keeps players from showing their emotions:
“Baseball’s tired,” he says. “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. If that’s Matt Harvey or Jacob deGrom or Manny Machado or Joc Pederson or Andrew McCutchen or Yasiel Puig – there’s so many guys in the game now who are so much fun.
“Jose Fernandez is a great example. 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.”
“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.’ 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.”
There are plenty of other great anecdotes about Harper in the story, particularly from his days before he was a MLB superstar, but let’s zero in on what he said above about baseball’s lack of self expression. What Harper’s talking about has been the subject of discussion around here for a good while now.
Our good friend Tim Brown wrote a wonderful column last season after Astros outfielder Carlos Gomez caused a stir for stealing a base in a blowout and upsetting the Yankees.
[Elsewhere: Ruben Amaro Jr. claims he used analytics, but never promoted it]
Harper is polarizing because he dares step out of that box on occasion. We demand that athletes care – so much so that perceived lack of effort is punished as one of the worst sports crimes – but when an athlete cares so much that their reaction to a big moment in a game is to celebrate? Don’t care that much. And Harper’s right, that sentiment is even more prevalent in baseball than it is in other sports. It’s especially infuriating because what’s fair game and what isn’t is unbelievably arbitrary. In many cases, the divide is brought on by generational and culturue differences.
Baseball would be more fun if it was played Bryce Harper’s way. And if anyone can engender change in a sport where progress isn’t always a priority, it’s got to be Harper.
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Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter. Follow @israelfehr
- Sports & Recreation
- Baseball
- Bryce Harper
- Jose Fernandez
