19-year-old Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper decided to get in on a softball game in Washington, D.C. while sightseeing on a day off Monday.
“I hadn’t seen the Lincoln Memorial before so I wanted to go over there and check that out,” Harper said before his game with the Nats on Tuesday. “I was just walking through and they asked me if I’d take a few hacks.”
Harper politely declined at first, but then he accepted the invitation.
“I was trying to interact with the community, the fans a little bit. I like doing that kind of stuff,” Harper said.
According to the DC Sports Bog, the softball game was between the World Wildlife Fund Fighting Pandas and the Alliance to Save Energy Killer Watts. They tell a slightly different story from Harper, saying that he offered to jump in.
“We didn’t ask him to play; he just wanted to jump in,” Fighting Pandas center fielder Nick Conger told DC Sports Bog. “He couldn’t help himself.”
Harper took a few cuts, including one where he shockingly whiffed. He did get his swing together and launched a bomb later in the at-bat. What’s surprising is that he’s not the first star MLB player to do something like this. Remember when this guy did it?
Thanks to Nats Enquirer via Deadspin for the video
