The Washington Nationals selected Bryce Harper as the first overall pick in the 2010 MLB draft. He spent seven seasons with the team and, during his time in the nation’s capital, won Rookie of the Year and the National League MVP.
Harper left the Nationals in 2019 when he signed a 13-year, $330 million free agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. That same year, Washington won the World Series. So it isn’t like losing him hurt the Nationals, at least in the short term.
That, however, doesn’t mean that, for some reason, a certain segment of Nationals fans still don’t harbor some animosity towards Bryce Harper for leaving the team. Because for portions of Thursday’s game, a group of shirtless Nationals fans were chanting, “F— Bryce Harper!”
Bryce Harper heard the chants and responded after homering
Which is why, when Harper smashed a two-run, go-ahead home run to left field in the top of the ninth inning, the Phillies’ first baseman gave them the finger. Just not the one that will get him into any trouble.
“Ring finger, though. Just make sure that’s out there,” Harper said after the Phillies’ 10-5 win. “But, obviously, everybody heard it. We heard it the other night. I mean, they were doing the same thing to Trea (Turner). Which is crazy, because they should probably know their history a little bit with him winning a World Series here.
“It’s weird coming from a fanbase, obviously, that I sweated for, for seven years, but there’s a lot of people around here that enjoy me. So it’s all part of it. It’s all fun.”
Harper added, “Everywhere I go, I get booed. I love it. It’s all part of it. It’s weird coming from a fan base that I sweated for for seven years. But there’s a lot of people around here that enjoy me. … There’s a lot of people in that organization I respect and a lot of workers around the park I respect.”