As Major League Baseball anxiously awaits the day that Bryce Harper arrives on the scene to ruffle as many feathers as possible, the 19-year-old phenom has done his best to keep his jaw muscles in shape. Most recently, Harper brought his tough guy act to an interview with GQ Magazine, during which he tried to describe his passion for baseball but gave off the impression that he should be playing football, which he said is the sport he misses most from his childhood.
“I’m getting chills just thinking about it,” Harper explained. “That first knock of the game, you are going on kickoff and you are just trying to smack somebody just as hard as you can. That’s how I play baseball. I want to hit you. I want to run your ass over. Sorry.
“I want to play the game hard. I want to ram it down your throat, put you into left field when I’m going into second base.”
When Harper does finally reach the MLB level, people are going to hate him. He’s a cocky kid who has been known to blow kisses at opposing pitchers and act like an idiot when things don’t go his way. In fact, even his own hometown radio hosts think Harper is a d-bag. Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt predicts Harper could be in for a rude awakening when he finally goes up against the big guns.
“I would think at some point the game itself, the competition on the field, is going to have to figure out a way to police this young man,” Schmidt said.
Bryce is a tremendous talent, but he would be wise to not blow a kiss to someone like Justin Verlander when he reaches the Majors. Unless, of course, he enjoys pain so much that a 101-mph fastball to the ear won’t bother him.
H/T Hardball Talk
