Bryce Harper put a finger up to Nationals fans on Thursday, just not the middle one.
With a group of shirtless Nationals fans chanting “f–k Bryce Harper,” the Phillies first baseman hit a two-run, go-ahead home run to left field, sticking what he assures was not his middle finger up to the crowd.
“Ring finger, though,” Harper said after the Phillies’ 10-5 win. “Make sure that’s out there.”
Harper has been met with boos at Nationals Park ever since he signed the 13-year contract with the Phillies in 2019.
The former No. 1 pick spent the first half of his career with Washington D.C, winning the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2015 NL Most Valuable Player Award.
He also made the All-Star Game six times with the team.
“It’s all part of it,” Harper said. “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.”
Yet, Harper has yet to win a World Series ring, and the Nationals went on to win one in the season he left. He fell short of a ring again in 2022 when the Phillies lost the World Series to the Astros in six games.
Harper is used to the animosity, though, as his perceived cockiness and the fact that he’s a star make him the brunt of a lot of heckling at ballparks around the league.
“He’s not afraid of the stage,” interim manager Don Mattingly told MLB.com. “That’s one thing for sure. He’s been in it his whole life, so I don’t think the stage bothers him. I think it probably motivates him when people get on him and stuff like that. I think it’s probably something that he feeds off of a little bit.”
The whole Phillies roster has been up for the moment recently, as they became the first team in MLB history to hit a go-ahead home run in the ninth inning for three-straight games.
On Thursday, they were down by five heading into the sixth, but rallied behind strong hitting the rest of the way, winning the series against the Nationals 3-1.
