The Biggest Villain in Baseball

according to one scout it is difficult to find a single talent evaluator who doesn't quote genuinely dislike bryce harper another scout said he was a bad person a team executive called him a quote selfish losing player and bryce harper even said himself on the field he's a quote and a bryce harper has won two mvps two silver sluggers made six all-star teams while still somehow being voted the most overrated player by players four times since 2012 there isn't a single player who's been ejected more times than bryce harper he's been intentionally hit by pitchers multiple times gotten in verbal altercations with fans multiple times got choked out by his own teammate and got into a brawl so violent it ended a player's career he's been called lazy self-absorbed and overrated more than anyone in baseball but in 2021 bryce harper proved all of this to be false doing something nobody thought was possible while overcoming the scariest most dangerous moment of his life unfortunately for him a lot of these people still hate [Applause] what him bryce harper different is that he embraces the role of the villain it seems to make him better and he is not afraid to respond to 330 million open three he was the most publicized prospect in baseball history while also perhaps being the cockiest and he had every right to be so bryce harper was on the cover of sports illustrated and literally called baseball's chosen one and the craziest part about this is that on the way to the photo shoot he crashed his car and was almost arrested because bryce harper wasn't even old enough to drive yet luckily for him his only punishment was apparently having to view corpses in the morgue at the clark county's coroner's office he made the photo shoot for the article that claimed that bryce harper hit a home run 570 feet when he was a freshman in high school that is the second longest home run in major league history there are doubts the ball actually went that far but what can't be argued is that bryce harper hit the farthest home run in tropicana field history when he was 16. harper has been booed by pretty much every single major league fan base including his own and it is not uncommon for some fans to take this taunting even further you'll never be as good as a kuna you can try as hard as you want you'll never be as good as akuna ever even with as much hate opposing fans give harper today the taunting he received from opposing players and fans as a teenager was arguably even worse by the time he was 14 superstar agent scott boris was already his advisor and was so bored with high school baseball he dropped out got his ged and entered college two years early which he describes as the hardest year of his life over 2000 people came to the team's first game two security guards guarded the team's dugout the entire season to prevent fans from running in and his college baseball card sold for over 12 thousand dollars that year a woman tricked him into giving her his number started following him around and after being stalked for several days the team had to call the cops on her in the team's first scrimmage the opposing team immediately started taunting harper he responded by hitting a home run and mocking them while running around third base this continued to happen the whole year so situations like this were not uncommon [Music] later in the season an opposing catcher told him to stop pimping his home runs or they would throw at his head bryce harper told him quote you i hit the ball 500 feet i can do what i want the two had to be separated after making a bad throw an opposing team's dugout started mocking him harper responded by giving them a bow and was immediately given his first career ejection once scott described harper as having a quote top of the skill arrogance and a disturbingly large sense of entitlement adding that he was a quote bad bad guy another report claimed it was hard to find a scout who didn't genuinely dislike harper as a person also saying there wasn't a scout who didn't think he was by far the best prospect in baseball he won the golden spikes award had more home runs in rbis than anyone in college while using a wooden bat and was so tired of getting walked once while getting intentionally walked swung anyway and ended up hitting a sacrifice fly and he did all of this while he was supposed to be a junior in high school but as dominating as his college career was it ended in the saddest way possible in the junior college world series bryce struck out on an outside pitch while walking back to the dugout he drew a line in the dirt with his bat to show the umpire that it was a ball he was ejected and suspended two games fans were so mad the umpires had to be escorted off the field but it was too late harper's college career was over bryce harper himself admitted that on the field he was a quote but despite scouts and fans saying he was a self-absorbed diva not one coach or teammate in college had anything bad to say about him harper was just a competitive guy who wasn't going to take from anyone in a league where everyone gave him and when he went pro he got even more of it when harper arrived at his first major league spring training his teammates supposedly replaced the name on his locker with big boy which was probably just some friendly rookie hazing but his minor league opponents were not as friendly in one game harper had issues with an opposing pitcher he hit a bomb off him stared at the ball and after getting yelled at rounding third base blew a kiss in the pitcher's face harper also got his first professional ejection after completely losing it on an umpire after a strikeout grace harper dominated the miners and quickly moved up to the majors at 19 years old where despite never playing a game was immediately booed in his first at bat he hit an easy ground ball to the pitcher then sprinted to first base in less than five seconds in august he set a record by rounding the bases on a home run in 16.2 seconds that same season ryan roberts hit an inside the park home run and only rounded the bases .3 seconds faster in his second week in the majors bryce harper got so pissed he slammed his bat against the dugout it ricocheted and hit him in the eye he was bleeding out of his face had to get 10 stitches but refused to come out of the game in 2013 he ran full speed face first into a wall in dodger stadium he was bleeding from his neck had to get 11 stitches but apparently tried to stay in the game he ended up missing a month with a knee injury bryce harper played with a tenacity people weren't used to and a lot of them hated him for it in only his eighth game in the major leagues cole hamels nailed him with a 93 mile per hour fastball later in the inning bryce harper stole home when hamills tried to pick off a runner at first cole hamels was suspended later admitting to hitting harper on purpose because he quote wanted to continue the old baseball and welcome bryce harper to the big leagues later that year ozzy gehen had issues with harper after he called him out for having too much pine tar on his bat in his next plate appearance he used a different bat and pointed it at aussie gean to show him gehan immediately got out of the dugout yelled at either harper or the nats dugout and kept screaming throughout the at-bat after the game he had even more to say to harper he might not make it with the wrong guy and that wrong he might not make it marlin's outfielder logan morrison said what harper did was quote kind of a slap in the face and ozzie gian called him quote unprofessional after the game his teammates covered a bat in pine tar had harper autograph it and write to my hero ozzy from bryce harper and gifted it to ozzy gian bryce harper basically just hustled a lot was 19 and got a ton of attention that was enough for many people to resent him including umpires in 2012 he was ejected just for throwing his helmet after a close play how dare you throw your helmet at my feet i'm the umpire and you're out of this game the next year he was upset he was called out on a check swing the umpire was upset that he got upset and told him to go back to the dugout he did but threw his helmet while doing it and was thrown out again and a guy 120 feet away throws him out perspect was looking to throw him in 2015 he got ejected for not getting in the batter's box quick enough while the umpire was arguing with his manager can't throw him out for that all these fans came here to watch bryce harper play and you're going to throw him out because he's not in the box this might have been the origin story of bryce harper's disdain for umpires because since then nobody's yelled at more of them than bryce harper he's been ejected 16 times in 10 seasons he once even got ejected for arguing after swinging and missing saying after the game he was just too fired up from listening to logic and chance the rapper he's been ejected four times when he wasn't even on the field in 2019 he was mad about being called out on this pitch but waited to scream at the umpire until three pitches into the next batter's plate appearance the umpire immediately ejected him and bryce harper screamed even more you're a cry baby you're sensitive loser you're in the loser in 2016 danny espinoza struck out on this he began arguing with the umpire but then the empire proceeded to throw out bryce harper who was in the dugout apparently arguing even more the next batter hit a walk-off home run harper came back onto the field to celebrate stop celebrating to tell the umpire this then went back to celebrating an umpire even once threatened bryce harper while he was playing center field the next inning that same umpire called this a strike harper argued but somehow managed to stay in the game he's getting eyeballed here big time saying that he was now making an effort to no longer get ejected from games five days later he got ejected for arguing balls and strikes harper even once got ejected during spring training maybe that's why some folks don't like him in the game of baseball he is so competitive and gets so pissed off the nationals even installed a punching bag in the clubhouse to prevent him from punching a wall harper's rookie season went as bad as good as it could he was an all-star won rookie of the year the team reached the playoffs for the first time in franchise history he had the fourth highest selling jersey in baseball as a teenager and to this day bryce harper put up the highest war out of any 19 year old in mlb history he was becoming the most popular player in baseball and also one of the most hated because when someone says something bryce harper doesn't like he is not afraid to respond in 2012 a toronto reporter asked him if he would take advantage of the lower drinking age and have a beer after the game harper was 19 and doesn't drink so he responded by saying it's a clown question bro this response went viral became a slogan and was even said by a senator i don't want to answer that question that's a clown question bro in 2013 harper hit a home run off of julio tehran and apparently stared at the ball too long the next at-bat tehran drilled him with a 94 mile per hour fastball harper immediately retaliated by screaming at him and the benches cleared the braves twitter account responded by tweeting quote clown move bro and if braves fans already didn't hate him enough the next year while getting booed in atlanta he dragged his cleat over the braves logo every time he went to the plate i mean he just does things that most players don't do next year he was voted by players as the most overrated player in baseball for the first time he was also benched for not running out a comebacker leading to even more criticism harper's extreme hustle had already resulted in him getting injured in three out of his first four professional seasons which may have convinced him to tone down his aggressiveness it also caused one of the biggest teammate on teammate fights baseball's ever seen but before we get to that a word from today's sponsor baseball is finally back and if this already wasn't good enough today's sponsor draftking sportsbook is making it even sweeter draftkings is giving all new customers a shot at turning five dollars into two hundred dollars in free bets with 42-1 odds on any baseball team to win their next game these are odds you're probably not going to get anywhere else if drag king sportsbook isn't available in your state you can still get in on the action by playing their daily fantasy contest that will have millions of dollars in prizes up for grabs every single week so download the draftking sportsbook app now use promo code doesn't exist throw down just five dollars on the team of your choosing and if they win you're getting 200 in free bets so click the link below use code doesn't exist and download draftking sportsbook today in 2014 his teammate jonathan papavon caused the benches to clear after throwing at manny machado because he stared at a home run too long after the game harper defended machado saying he thought papyrbon hitting him was quote pretty tired and that he'd probably get drilled the next day which caused goose goshes who say harper quote didn't know squad about the game and sergio romo to say harper should shut up papobon apparently confronted harper in the locker room after the interview four days later after watching harper jog on a pop-up he confronted him again the two yelled at each other papyrus tried to strangle him and the two had to be separated after the game harper said he just wanted to focus on the rest of the game perhaps in between yeah you know i'm just worried about the last six games of the year were you injured doing the melee like i said you know i'm just ready for the next six games you and uh peppa one had problems before today yeah i'm just really excited for the you know next six games pacquon said he was wrong did he say that he did know hopefully uh move forward and do what i can for the next six days despite the choke pavelbot and harper today are apparently friends and papawan admitted he was in the wrong but according to at least one journalist out of the 12 players he asked all 12 were on papal bond's side despite this massive distraction harper dominated major league baseball leading the league get on base percentage slugging percentage ops runs home runs and won mvp at 22 years old mlb.com ranked this performance as the best single season of any player in the 2010s and this happened right after the players voted in a preseason poll that bryce harper was the most overrated player in baseball for the second year in a row he was also now the most feared hitter in the league however there was one pitcher who wasn't afraid of harper which led to one of the most violent brawls in baseball history in 2014 bryce harper hit an absolute bomb off hunter strickland in the nlds a few days later he hit another bomb off strickland who got mad at harper for standing in the box too long strickland said something to harper harper looked at him a little then got into the dugout and started yelling at him the giants ended up beating the nationals and winning the world series but three years later the two met again i said they're bringing him in if he hits me i'm going you better be on the top step coming out and because i'm going like if he hits me i'm going strickland threw a first pitch fastball at bryce harper harper charged a mound and almost nailed them with a helmet they punched each other in the face and all hell broke loose the biggest casualty of this brawl was michael morse who got a concussion after he collided with his teammate jeff samarja many people credit michael morris with saving bryce harper by getting in the way of samarja who is six foot four 233 pounds and going full speed directly at harper 2017 was likely michael morse's last year anyway but due to the concussion he never played a single mlb game again harper was an all-star in his next three seasons in washington but never reached the insane level production he achieved in 2015 and by 2018 he was once again voted the most overrated player in baseball earning 48 percent of the vote his highest total yet but this is nothing compared to the hate he received that offseason after assigning a 13-year 330 million dollar contract which resulted in a level of criticism even harper may have not have been used to he's simply overrated the good ain't worth the bad cares about himself more than the team he's just not worth it he's a selfish losing player wow harper proved all of these critics wrong in 2021 overcoming a potentially career and life-threatening incident to have his most unlikely season ever but harper's time in philadelphia honestly got off to a terrible start after striking out twice bryce harper got booed by his own fans in his first game ever as a philly later that month he would get booed even more and even though he had an ops close to 900 said quote i'd boo me too that month he was also publicly criticized by a teammate after he was ejected for screaming at an umpire in the dugout he got so mad he got thrown out came out of the dugout yelled at the umpire some more while being physically restrained by his manager who was also screaming at the umpire after the game jake arrieta was upset with harper for getting ejected leading to rumors that the philly's clubhouse had already turned toxic that month harper also had a confrontational return to washington who now seemed to hate him in his first at-bat he was booed and struck out in his second at-bat he was booed again and struck out again then harper hit a double in the fifth and rbi hit in the sixth and in the eighth hit an absolute bomb pulled up by a massive bat flip and also celebrated with phillies fans in right field but national sands were not the only ones who didn't welcome bryce harper while playing in chicago harper caught the third out he turned to throw the ball to a fan then saw several cubs fans giving him the middle finger and he proceeded to throw the ball out of the stadium giants fans absolutely tormented harper and he made them pay multiple times after being called overrated by a fan harper hit a homer turned around and pointed at him harper hit another homer against the giants and after getting booed going around the bases told them all to be quiet but as cool as these homers are harper's best moment in philly occurred at the end of the 2021 season earlier that year in april harper took a 97 mile per hour fastball directly to the face and as scary as this was harper got up and walked off the field on his own later sending out a video saying quote face is still there so we're all good it was basically a miracle there was no broken bones or a concussion and harper played four days later in reality it was way more serious than anybody knew he returned almost immediately but had one of the worst months of his career he struck out 40 of the time and at one point went 0 for 16. he was eventually placed on the injured list partially because somehow the pitch injured his wrist more than his face but also because he needed time off to get over the fear the pitch to the face cost according to his gm nobody knew what harper went through to overcome that pitch and that he didn't want to get into it because it was so personal harper himself got extremely emotional when it came up in an interview after the season but as scary as this was when harper returned two weeks later despite not even being an all-star put up second half numbers so dominant he came out of nowhere and won his second mvp award harper has solidified himself as one of the hardest working hardest playing and undoubtedly one of the best players in baseball does this mean people will stop hating him probably not but that will probably only make him better do you guys want to listen to my new podcast with dallas braden and jared karabus and finally get to see what i look like our very first podcast is out now you can listen anywhere including youtube by clicking the link below thanks again for watching i love you

Channel: Baseball Doesn't Exist

Views: 4,687,771

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Id: ivcd7NM7iSc

Length: 20min 9sec (1209 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2022