Bryce Harper’s take on how to grow baseball internationally originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
LONDON — Bryce Harper wears many hats. Husband, father, superstar athlete, franchise icon, one of the faces of Under Armor and Gatorade.
On Friday afternoon at London Stadium, a day before his Phillies opened a two-game series against the rival Mets, he wore another one, almost serving as an ambassador not only for Major League Baseball, but for the sport of baseball itself.
Remember, these people aren’t very familiar with baseball. The Yankees played the Red Sox in 2019 and the Cubs faced the Cardinals last year, but those were the only two Major League series to take place in Britain.
At his press conference Friday, Harper was asked several times by British reporters in different ways to explain why he finds baseball so exciting, how the game can be expanded and what initially attracted him as a child.
“I grew up playing football, baseball, basketball and other sports as well,” he said. “I love the grass, I love the leather, I love the dirt. I love the wood bat, man. I remember the first time I wore metal cleats and it was like click, click, click, click .As you (grow up), you wear the cast objects and then you handle metals and then you think, ‘Oh wow, this is cool, I’m like an older guy.’
“Just the whole thing. The tradition of MLB too. It’s been around for a long time. The game has changed so much. Obviously you still have your traditionalists. But I think as the game has gotten younger, as the players have gotten younger , people have kind of pulled away from those players. The emotion has helped, but you have to understand that this is also a traditional game, so you have to put some boundaries on both sides because you don’t want to lose one fan or lose the fan. .others, you want to pull them and have everyone together.”
In terms of growing the game, Harper’s overall message was that this is done by organizing events such as the London Series, by showcasing the sport to different countries. There might be 100 kids who watch Harper, Ranger Suarez or JT Realmuto this weekend and become lifelong baseball fans. There could be a thousand. There may be as many as 10,000. That kind of conversion is difficult to measure and impossible to overestimate.
“We have some really good players in our game from all over the world,” Harper said. “It’s a great game to see coming here and in Mexico. I think if we get into Britain I imagine we’ll probably go to a lot of other places just like the NFL has done. I think that will happen help bring our game to the attention of the fans.
“But the fans will also want to see us play. Other countries are into other sports. No matter how much you put it in people’s faces, the Premier League will still get bigger. There are certain things that are bigger than baseball. Obviously the NFL has a pretty good fan base here too. I think a lot of fans know basketball because basketball is also in Europe.
“As the game grows and as it goes, the more we delve into different cultures in the world, I think it will grow a little bit more.”
And then there are the Olympics, which Harper has always been passionate about. Baseball returns at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Harper is eager to get Major League players involved and has already expressed his desire to participate.
He doesn’t just want it for himself, he wants it for the sport as a whole.
“My biggest thing (to grow the game) is the Olympics,” he said. “There is nothing more worldwide than the Olympics. I watch the most random sports during the Olympics because they are the Olympics. So it’s very difficult not to have baseball in the Olympics. When you take those players there sends and takes a break, I think that’s the I love hockey, it’s one of my favorite sports and seeing it in the Olympics is one of the coolest things ever. They take that three week break and they let it guys are going to play we should have like Major League Baseball.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people in the MLB about it. I’d love to be a part of it. Obviously we have the World Baseball Classic, but it’s not the same. It’s not. People can say as much as they want. That’s just not like that. The Olympics are so global. It’s great, it brings a lot of people together and that’s really cool, but the Olympics is something that you dream of participating in. So if I get the chance to color of my country again. If I could portray that on my chest again, just like when I was 18 and 16, I would absolutely love it.”
By then, he will be 35 years old, in year 10 of the 13-year contract he signed with the Phillies before 2019. Harper is obsessed with winning the World Series, and almost tasting that triumph in 2022 and 2023 has only added to that sense of urgency.
“Once I signed, John (Middleton), knowing his mentality and knowing what he wanted to happen, it was incredible to know what kind of track he wanted this thing to appear on and I think we met that, that we have achieved a goal bit,” he said. “Obviously our main goal is to win the World Series and that is what we strive for every day. We have had a great start this year, but we are playing a full season and a lot can still happen. We have to just keep going, keep doing our thing, keep understanding that we can be better in all facets of the game and get better every day.”
