Today marks a monumental –and monumentally sad– day for my children. It could be their last chance to cheer for their first baseball hero, Bryce Harper, in a Nationals uniform.
Harper, whose personality is almost as big as his swing, is a free agent at the end of the season. His contract will be up with the Nationals, and he can sign with any team. He could stay in DC, a move that would fill my childrens’ hearts with joy and hope for the future. But odds are (and there are actual odds on this), Harper goes to another team to makes his millions.
So today my kids and the other devoted DC fans will put on their rain boots and their Nationals gear, and slog to the stadium to say goodbye.
The Nationals no longer have a chance of the playoffs, so today’s final home game has little significance for the team. But it means everything for my sons, ages 4 and 7. Harper came to the Nationals the year my older son was born. My children have never known baseball without Harper. My seven-year-old informed me that even if it is raining, even if the rest of the family goes home, he will stay at the game to see Bryce Harper one more time. (Don’t worry, guys, I am not going to leave him there.)
Harper hits it out of the park for the kids
When I ask my sons what is so great about Bryce Harper, they swing imaginary bats like light sabers and shout about the Home Run Derby. Harper surely hit a home run to their hearts when he won the Home Run Derby on the Nationals’ field this summer. It helped that Harper was fully regaled in DC imagery: tall socks with the Capitol skyline, a headband with the DC flag. He was there with all his swagger saying, “I am your man, DC!”
Others can debate if Harper is worth the millions he will ask for, or if his singular focus on the sport is a bad example for young players. All my kids see is a superstar, their superstar.
It started when my older son was a toddler and his baby brother was in diapers. Harper hit a particularly thrilling home run in the 2014 National League Division Series. It became the most played video on my phone. It was game 4 in San Francisco. Harper’s hit went out of the stadium walls and splashed down into McCovey Cove. Video footage shows a paddleboarder jumping into the water to try to retrieve the ball. That is comedy gold for a toddler. It marked the beginning of Harper’s superhero status for my young sons. Who hits a ball all the way into the sea?
At another formative point in my sons’ baseball memory, we attended a game in DC where Harper hit a thrilling home-run that gave the team a victory. From that point on, they became convinced that Harper could hit the Nationals out of any deficit.
Loyal to DC
Young children are loyal. They resist change. So this business of changing teams or players makes little sense to them.
I asked my 7-year-old, “What if the Nationals could get four pretty good players for the same price as Bryce Harper?”
He replied, “No, they should keep Bryce Harper. Even if they could get the best baseball player in the world, they should keep Bryce Harper.”
“What do you think Bryce Harper should do?,” I asked.
My son: “He has a few choices. I think he should stay on our team, or stop being a baseball player.”
That’s loyalty we don’t often see in DC. Like many DC greats, Harper may stay only 8 years. But my children cannot imagine the Nationals in his absence. They may have to learn to do so.
But for today, we’ll hope he hits one out of the park for us one last time. My 4-year-old thinks Harper can hit it into the Anacostia River. I told him that’s not possible. But, really, what could be impossible for Bryce Harper?
