It's the nature of baseball economics that each offseason's record-breaking contract will wind up being surpassed; if it works out well enough, it might even come to seem like a deal. In this context, it maybe shouldn't register as a surprise that Bryce Harper, who made $26,050,000 in cash this season, seems like a bargain. His 13-year, $330 million contract, which contains no opt-outs, was the highlight of a 2019 offseason in which Phillies owner John Middleton said the team was prepared to “maybe even be a little bit stupid.” They weren’t; Harper is worth much more to the Phillies than they’re paying him.
The Phillies have been contenders in each of the last three years after almost a decade of being an afterthought. They won a pennant, with the deciding runs coming off a Harper homer in the bottom of the eighth of a clinching game. They won their first division title in 13 years this season. Harper won an MVP award. There are other important players on the Phillies, but Harper is the one that has driven the team to its recent success.
And he has saved his best work for the playoffs. The stat encapsulating this, which I first saw from Marcus Hayes in the Daily News, is astounding: Among batters with 150 plate appearances in the postseason, Bryce Harper ranks behind only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth in OPS. He has a 1.024 OPS in 51 postseason games. There is no comparison between Harper and the Yankee legends, but that he is tops among modern players is quite a feat in its own right.
But what I like most about Bryce Harper is not actually his play on the field. It is that he has become a Philadelphian. People will say you cannot earn From Here status, and that to me is bullshit. Live here long enough, ingratiate yourself into the culture in some way, manage the necessary pandering correctly, and you can be just as Philadelphian as me. Lots of athletes have done this in recent memory. Players are always rooting for other local teams. Joel Embiid played pickup hoops at a court just off South Street. Jason Kelce has become the ultimate panderer thanks to his unreal Super Bowl victory speech in a Mummers outfit. His wife is a local celebrity now. This summer, his New Heights podcast was primarily just him listing which bakeries had named a new donut after him. Sure, Kelce is going to be a Hall of Famer, but it is really impressive that the team’s center became such a media star. Most people only know facts about the center if you’re an Eagles sicko like me. (For example: Hank Fraley lived next to the woman who had the station next to the woman who cut my hair as a kid.) Kelce retired as the rare offensive lineman who'd be instantly recognizable on the street to even casual fans.
Harper is my favorite, though. He seems to think his pandering through more than any other local athlete I can remember. He moved to South Jersey and encouraged his teammates to move to the same area as well. (Some of my friends will say things like “My neighbor made a great play in the game today.”) Bryce has even developed a routine like I have, wearing his lucky gear on certain days to signify different things; I choose to accept this as micro-pandering. Per this Hannah Keyser story on Harper’s cleats in Front Office Sports:
Tuesdays, he wears a mint-colored, holographic pair made in partnership with trading card company PSA; Wednesdays are a traditional Phillies-red pair. On Thursdays or Sundays—depending on when the Eagles play—his cleats are, of course, Kelly green. There’s a pair to match the blue ombré City Connect uniforms the team wears on Fridays. And on Saturdays, Harper pays homage to the Phillie Phanatic.
I wouldn’t do it any differently myself. Keyser even got some info on potential spikes for next season: “In the clubhouse, Harper pulls out his phone to open a deck from Under Armour featuring mock-ups of potential 2025 cleats. Motifs for inspiration include the Philadelphia Art Museum, Nintendo 64, friendship bracelets, Mister Softee, and Princess Diana wearing an Eagles varsity jacket. He says he approved about eight of the designs.”
The story also notes that Harper even got fined for wearing cleats emblazoned with the logo of culty convenience store Wawa. He wasn’t even that mad: “Obviously I understand why, but also I think kids love it.” Yes, in Philadelphia, kids love a gas station. I cannot fully explain it myself.
Harper is obviously pandering. These are little things, but very intentional ones. I love them, personally, and appreciate the work he’s put into it. I like that he hits them for my team, but I really like that Harper hits home runs in a pair of cleats specifically selected for the day and time of that home run. The Phillies may not win the World Series this year, but they will get Bryce Harper’s best shot on and off the field. At any price, it feels like a steal.
