Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals uber-prospect, hit his 14th home run of the season last night for the Hagerstown Suns. Apparently he appreciated the opposing pitcher's role in the home run so much that he blew him kisses as he approached home plate. That's all that was, right? Appreciation?
Sadly, the video is edited in such a way that I can't get a tater trot time for Mr. Harper and his mustache. I can say that it took Harper over four seconds before he stopped watching the home run and began jogging. Even the worst offenders in the big leagues rarely stare a ball down that long. My guess is that this trot ended up in the 24- to 25-second range (he moved pretty fast once he started moving).
The real question is this: which is the bigger star of this video, Harper's blown kisses or that mustache? It's closer than you think.
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I don't know why I wrote all that, it isn't news to anyone.
For a disgusting mustache, he is doing a pretty good job with it.
I agree that Harper needs to be humbled some, something that is bound to happen. But people need to cut him some slack.
I'd certainly rather see him blowing kisses than flipping the bird though.
To get this out there, I'm a baseball fan. It's my sport. I like the no-nonsense staid professionalism of a guy like Jim Thome. I'm just saying that I don't like people treating baseball like it's the only civilized game while all other sports get free passes.
Either there's nothing really wrong with it, and so Harper also gets to do it. Or it is wrong, and you don't 'earn' the right to be an A-hole by being better at something than other people. No more than you earn the right to not run out groundballs or take your turn with the press.
Probably more important team-wise that a star sticks to the rules. Earl Weaver thought so. As Bill James has pointed out, when the guy making the most money starts cutting corners, pretty soon everyone starts cutting those same corners.
I'm not saying I LIKE when guys admire their homers or show up pitchers, but its worse when someone with no track record does it.
1. Lack of style(mustaches are finished!)
2. Lack of hustle
3. Lack of humility
4. Lack of sportsmanship
5. Lack of an accompanying beard. In fourteen states in the US it's a felony crime to have a bad mustache and no beard.
He says the right things in interviews but clearly demonstrates some immaturity on the diamond (whether the other team is goading him into it or not). He will learn. Hell, in this league you can drive around drunk all day, talk back to cops, and beat your significant other as long as you have a 1.000 OPS.
Don't make me defend Bryce Harper. Please.
league slow pitch softball slugger who laughs in your face
when he hits it out and slams the bat against the water
cooler when makes an out. His physical abilities are just ahead of his emotional growth. MLB needs his talent, let's
hope he gets things under control.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15594767&topic_id=9674738&c_id=mlb
I think Pujols is being even more inappropriate since the Cubs' bullpen is actually worse than what Harper has to face in Low-A.
In other sports, smack-talking and showboating is bad because it unnecessarily motivates the other team. It doesn't justify cheap-shotting or trying to hurt the culprits.
It's weird that baseball's unwritten rules seemingly demand such courteous conduct yet at the same time accept the immediate "hurt their players" retaliation as the logical follow up.
1) I believe that there was a previous incident between the teams that led to this. Which is to say that I don't think he's just deciding to show up lo-A lifer Biff McGraw for the embarrassment of it: there was bad blood.
2) I actually think that this kind of, well, emotion, bodes well for his career, not badly for it. You cannot say that this kid doesn't care, or that he's not up for a good fight. That is a good quality if you want to end up with an all-time great baseball player. Not all such players are unconditionally "nice" to their opponents.
1. The night before, Harper was hit by a pitch on the thigh and left the game
2. Harper hits a home run the next day
3. Harper blows a kiss to the pitcher while rounding the bases
My conjecture as to what might have happened, but we couldn't hear
Harper hits homer, looks at it a bit
Tells pitcher to "Take that!"
Pitcher tells Harper to "Kiss my a**"
Harper blows kiss back at pitcher