Welcome back to volume 23 of “Today… But With Baseball.” For those who are unfamiliar with what the phrase means. Check out the intro blog here.

And so what if I took the day off yesterday. Mookie wasn’t offering holiday pay and I politely informed him I ain’t no scab.

Today’s Moment? A Young Bryce Harper Telling Cole Hamels to “Hold My Dick”

First things first, I’ve said multiple times that baseball is tough to hate on every player on a rivals team. I don’t like the Nationals one bit. Their franchise fucking sucks, they don’t have any fans and they love bragging about last years title as if they weren’t like 0-7 in their playoff series appearances. However, it is hard to root against players like Harper, Alonso and Acuña, even when they do play for your teams biggest rival. I’m sure there is bad blood when it comes to Yankees vs. Red Sox or Dodgers vs, Giants, but baseball just isn’t really that kind of sport IMO.

Now that we got that out of the way, I loved Bryce Harper long before he decided to make Philadelphia his home for the next decade and some change. I would like to mention that I called Harper coming to Philly with 2 seasons left of team control, but I’ll be the bigger man and not bring it up; credit to me. Harper had so many great memories during his tenure in the nations capital. From 2015, the Home run Derby title and even that random home run he obliterated in Arizona. However, one of my favorite memories of his time in DC even includes when he was intentionally beamed by Cole Hamels and immediately made him look stupid as he stole home that same inning.

I understand Cole hitting Harper, but it’s just such a silly move. Harper isn’t responsible for the hype built around him. It’s his fault he was drafted 1st overall? Absolutely silly. Especially when you consider there was a lot of hype around Cole as he came up in the Phillies organization. Was it anywhere near Harpers hype? Absolutely not, but he too was expected to do big things before ever stepping foot on the rubber at the major league level. 

The thing that sticks out in this clip is Harpers grit and hustle. Wanna call him arrogant? Sure. Bad teammate? Makes no sense, but whatever floats your boat. Overrated? Not really since everyone says he stinks – kind of an oxymoron, but knock yourself out. Doesn’t hustle? Absolutely not – I will not allow that.

That’s why Philadelphia and Bryce are such a match made in heaven. The kid hustles like Aaron Rowand and hits like the best in the bigs when he’s on and confident in the box. It shouldn’t come as much as a surprise. Have you seen Harpers dad? Dudes got guns of steel and is an iron worker in Vegas. Dudes got grit all thought out his body because of his pops. As a union carpenter myself, I just hope my kid grows up to be drafted 1 of 1 and win an MVP at age 22.

18 days till opening day!

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