Bryce Harper joins the show!

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Bryce Harper and welcome to The Philly Show.

00:00:15
Speaker 2: This is The Philly Show with Ruben Amaro Junior, Jim Salisbury. I'm Todd z Lucky. Yes, we have a very special episode for you today. Bryce Harper joined us recently, right before the twenty twenty four London Series between the Phillies and Mets at London Stadium. Of course, we talked about the phillies incredible start to the twenty twenty four season. We talked about what life might be like this summer and fall at Citizens Bank Park, what it would mean to win a World Series in Philadelphia. But we also talked a lot about a lot of fun off field stuff. The promo he just shot with Chase Sully and Rob McIlhenny, some of the swag he'll be wearing this weekend on the field at London Stadium. A lot of youth baseball stuff, including his dad's influence, just some of the work he put in as a kid, so much more. Jim Rubin and I afterwards were like, Wow, that was a lot of fun. I think you guys are really going to enjoy this. Got to give a shout out to our sponsor for this episode. Shive Vintage Sports. Father's Day is almost here, and our friends at Shy Vintage Sports have Philly sports gifts that dad is sure to love. Locally owned Shibe Carrie's exclusive apparel from national brands as well as original creations from Philly airy artists think Veteran Stadium, the Spectrum, the Whiz Kids. These shirts and hats are sure to bring back happy memories for dads. So visit Shi Vintage Sports in Center City, Wayne or Westchester or at Shibe sports dot com. And remember use the Phillies Show promo code for fifteen percent off online, or if you're in the store, just tell him the Phillies Show sent you. Without further ado, Here is the Phillies Show conversation with Bryce Harper. Bryce, thanks so much for joining us. Phillies are playing so well right now. We're a little more than a third end of the season. You're winning at a remarkable clip. The ballpark is packed every night, the atmosphere is electric, and it's not even summer yet. I'm wondering what it is like just coming to the ballpark today. Does it feel any different?

00:02:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think as a team we've talked about it and you know, obviously Philly fans man when you're winning, when you're playing well, they're showing up and supporting, and you know, being able to come to the ballpark every night and know that they're going to show up is an amazing feeling. You know. We had a random Tuesday night maybe about three weeks ago, and it was slammed. I mean there were thirty eight thousand people here and we were all standing there going this is incredible. And just being able to play in front of a fan base like that. I love getting home. I don't think people realize obviously because you know, my family and my kids and stuff, but being able to play in the bank is just something that is the coolest thing ever. Going on the road obviously it's it's the road and going and playing it's it's a little tough, but when you get back home, there is nothing like it. I mean, we just got back from San fran and the last day in San Fran I was just like itching to get back home, just to be able to play in front of this fan base, in front of this crowd, and there's nothing like it.

00:03:26
Speaker 4: So you had played against Philadelphia for years? Is that something? Was that like something was important to you to be able to play in front of a fan base like that, I mean you feel I mean, I watch you and it looks like you rise to these amazing occasions. Was it important for you to play in front of a fan base like this?

00:03:47
Speaker 3: It's just that moment, right, just being able to you know, when I came in here as an opposing player, I didn't see it in the days of like Philly right, Like, I didn't really see it in the seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, you could still say, I mean twelve, it was still packed and people were coming to the game, but it was kind of out of that window. I guess, I don't know, maybe a little bit, and so you know, being able to kind of see it at the end of it. Obviously you still had the players of you know, Chase and Cole and Jimmy and Howard and everybody coming in and Ruiz and I still face Lee and Hamil's and all those guys. So those guys would pitch and obviously it'd be slammed. But I didn't really feel it, obviously because I was an opposing player, so I would feel the other side of Philly. Obviously, playing in right field, you know, I just it was a little tough for me as an opposing player coming in because I'd feel it in a different way. But I loved it, you know, I just you could see the passion, you could see the fire, and you saw that in a couple of different stadiums as you're playing in opposing players, But when you are a player in Philadelphia, there is nothing like it. And I can say that just because I play here right now, and there's no greater feeling than walking into the bank and driving in just like you said, driving into the bank, warm weather, seventy five degrees, a little humid, and everybody just I think, obviously, when you're winning, people in a good mood, right obviously, and that's great, But you can just feel the emotion and the power and just being able to feel the fan base each night is something very special.

00:05:24
Speaker 5: I want to ask you. You talk about playing in front of these fans and what they do to you, They lift you, they elevate you. What's it like playing behind this pitching staff?

00:05:34
Speaker 3: Yeah? Same, right, I mean obviously being able to play in front of a fan base that just like Rubin said, I mean, I love that moment. I love the opportunity and the moment of being in that with a fan base like this, there's nothing greater. And I have that confidence when we have our starting pitching out there as well like that, you know, and as much as our starting pitching give it gives us that confidence, you know, I feel like we give them that confidence as well as an offense to go out there and hey, if I don't have a great game, they're going to pick me up. And I think everybody does that very well in our clubhouse. And it's like that next man up mentality. I think we've done a great job of that. I mean, we saw that last night and that Cardinals win last night, or in the Phillies against Cardinals win last night, we saw that. You know, Ranger goes down in the third inning and Turnbull comes in and does his job, and it's just like that next man up. And I've said it a couple of times where you know, you sit there and you really, you know, we don't care where you're from, who you are, what you do, what type of a demeanor you had on different teams, or if people liked you on different teams, or if they didn't like you on different teams. We don't care, because when you come into our clubhouse, it's it's different like it's you're part of our team, You're part of our organization. We want you to feel that way because in any big moment or in any big spot, we want you to know that every single guy in ur Dugout has your back no matter what, and if you come through, great, If you don't, we'll get him next time because we're hoping that you come through more times than none. And that's okay with us, you know, And I think that's instilled in our organization, from John to Dave to tompr and through our minor leagues as well. You know, if you're part of our team, you're part of us and we want you to be part of that. And that's where the confidence and the ability comes from everybody on our team.

00:07:16
Speaker 2: So everybody's super excited about this team. And you guys are going to London this weekend. I do want to ask you about the Bryce Man cometh. It was of the promos I have seen, one of the funniest I've ever seen, maybe the funniest, but it was so good. I actually went on your IMDb page to see if you had done any cameos on any like Honourage type shows. Can you tell us a little bit about the shoot, because the comedic timing between you and Chase, it was not like a couple athletes. I'm sure you've seen athlete cameos where it's really stilted and awkward. It seemed like a real conversation that just happened to be recorded.

00:07:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, we had a good time. Bonnie actually talked to me about it a little bit in the off season, was like, hey, what do you think She texted me about it, and I was like, all right, let's talk about it more in spring. And so she talked to me about it in spring training. And you know, obviously for Chase and you know, everything that he's done for this organization, obviously I'm gonna say yes, just because it's Chase Utley and just knowing, you know, study in Philadelphia and that's one of the you know, top episodes. People love that episode and so it's uh, just being able to kind of be part of that. I was like, obviously, like this is really really cool and I want to do this. So, you know, it took us a couple of takes, but it was super normal. I felt like Chase was kind of just walking in and I was just talking to him and you know, just like hey, and man, like these letters are kind of crazy, like what you got for me?

00:08:38
Speaker 2: But the line about I would get hitting tips from Rollins, it was so good and how Chase kind of grabbed his chest like dude, that hurts kind of me.

00:08:47
Speaker 3: Come on, I thought when I read the script for the first time, I loved it. And they were like, do you want to do this like the Rowlins thing? And I was like, yeah, I think it'd be great. I think it'd be really funny. I mean, I've talked to Jimmy about like the d h R like two years ago, right like, I mean I sat there and talked him for a minute, and I think that's kind of where they got it. And so I think we kind of just rolled with it. And Chase, I mean, he played it off great. I mean it was it was really good. It really was good.

00:09:13
Speaker 2: And then going into London, I know you always for like for big series, big games, special games, you always have like something cool planned shoe wise, bat wise, arm sleeve wise. What can you tell us if you can tell us without giving anything away about what you might have going on with any of that stuff, because I think that's kind of a cool little touch that you usually do with with with that stuff.

00:09:34
Speaker 3: Yeah. So my Harper nine will debut in London, and so I'm on the eight right now. Harper nine will debut in London, and so we have a really cool kind of metallic thing going on which will work pretty well. Our sleeve, wrist guard, you know, everything that I can kind of get and play on field with. I'm gonna do it. So it's the bat. The Bat's gonna be really cool. I'm excited about it. It has something to do with the fanatic but also something else. It'll be really cool. I mean, we'll see. I'm going to use it. So we'll see if I get get a letter or something like that, but I'm definitely going to use it. It'll be really cool.

00:10:17
Speaker 4: How important was that that whole I mean, the swag thing, because I think you connect really really well with the fans, especially here in Philly. I mean, obviously the fanatic was a big theme for you. How did that manifest itself? How did how did that's all start?

00:10:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, I mean obviously the biggest thing is winning, right, I mean obviously you know, going out there and winning games and doing that is what matters most. And so all the things that I do with my cleats or my bats or my gloves or anything that's great, but the winning part is huge. But I like to have fun, Like I enjoy that side of the game, and you know, being able to kind of tie in something so prolific to Philly with the Fanatic. I mean, coming in and playing as an opposing player at those times, like the Fanatic was great, Like it was so much fun to kind of watch him go through his you know, the things that he does on the on the four wheeler and before the games, and it was so funny that I remember in fifteen was the first time that I kind of really watched his thing in front of the dugout and he would always go through the players where like they'd announce somebody and he'd go like this and he'd do like a stinky face or like yeah whatever, and then like, you know, i'd get up there in twenty fifteen, he was like, oh no, and he would just like flash the right and so like he just he did some funny stuff, man, and I just I was really into kind of what he did and then once I got here, it was like it was a no brainer, Like I really wanted to base some cleats off of him and you know, kind of tie those in and pull those back and get the green kind of going. And I think that's I think fans and kids and they love that, you know, they love kind of the different color. And if you look at the kind of the kids what they're doing today is they're wearing different colors with their uniforms. I got younger ages, like they want to wear like a flashy red or a flashy pink or a blue or and their team is black and orange. You know what I'm saying. It's so outrageous, and so I try to I try to stay color wise, like with the Phillies. And actually the green is actually official color with the Phillies, and it has been ever since the Phillies have been the Phillies because of the fanatic and so I talked to Phil about that in twenty nineteen because we got calls from Major League Baseball and he actually showed them, Hey, the green is actually an official color for the Phillies. And so I thought, hey, why not, let's just try to tie some stuff back. Obviously, the the cleats and the gloves and the arms, sleeves and stuff. And so I've tried to kind of a lot of like, Okay, Friday nights, I'm gonna wear the green, Saturday nights, I'll wear you know, a wah wah pair, and then Sundays, you know, the cream. And so I have some really really cool stuff coming out this year with uh with wah wah, with some stuff that I'll wear on Saturdays. The Friday nights is tough just because the city connects, so I didn't want to wear the city connect with the green. So I'm trying to figure out when I can wear the green a little bit more, yeah, I mean. And then also, we have so many different uniforms now, yeah, the uniforms, Like, we have so much different stuff that we wear, and I don't even I mean, there are only times that we kind of back it up and wear the same uniforms when we have night games. Like we've actually worn the pinstripes the last three days, which is wild, like that hasn't happened.

00:13:41
Speaker 2: All happened, right, Yeah?

00:13:43
Speaker 3: And then are blues obviously, and I love the blue uniform, like I love the old school blue. Yeah, it's so cool. It's such a great uni. The creams is probably my favorite, and so trying to tie that back into the creams. I've actually been wearing gray at home. I don't know if you ever seen that lately. Oh yeah, I've woren gray spikes and ray batting gloves and then wearing white on the road. So just trying to, you know, switch it up a little bit here and there.

00:14:04
Speaker 2: So the shoe they like the average joke can buy, Like, my nephew has got the ones, so I guess they're the eights. How are you actually did they actually send you stuff? And say, Bryce, what do you think? And then you like tell him no, do you like is that is that a real thing? Or is this just your name's thrown on it?

00:14:21
Speaker 3: No? So I'm I'm all in with it, like it really, It's one of my favorite things to do. We've already designed the tent, so the ten is done and then we're onto the eleven now. So like one of my right hand managed at under Armour, his name is Spencer, we go side by side with designs. He obviously designs fully. He's been a designer with cleats for the last eight nine years. Somewhere in there or sorry. He's been doing it for about eight nine years and he's been on the Harper for man, when did he come on? I want to say the three he came on, so about five years now, going on six years with him. So I mean, I'll send them to designs and concepts of different shoes that I've been looking at or I've seen throughout the year. I have a file on my phone that I'll file away certain, you know, shoes that I've seen in the last year, cleats that I've seen in the last year, like mockups from nineteen eighty that I saw, and you know nineteen ninety time that I saw, you know, or the griffis or like whatever it could be. I'll send him stuff and we'll kind of put stuff together and then he'll kind of he'll he'll build it out and he'll show me and then I'll say, Okay, I want a little bit more of this, or a little bit more of that, a little bit more you know, color here, flash here, or I'll say, hey, I wanted to be a little bit old school and not have as much and just be clean, and so it just it kind of just depends on what we want to do. The ten is going to be a little bit different than any of the ones that I've ever had, so I'm excited about that. But yeah, I'm I'm all in on design.

00:15:57
Speaker 2: I really enjoyed it when you were Like when I was a kid, I will remember I had a Robin Young clob. My brother still talks about he had a Lance Parish Catcher's mid I'm sure you guys had stuff. You know, what, what did you have when you were a kid? Do you remember?

00:16:09
Speaker 3: So let's see, I loved the Swingman Griffis. The two K four Hirachi is probably the greatest cleat of all time. Okay, I really, I really believe that. When I was growing up, obviously, let's see, I'm trying to think this is funny. So I had my dad. My dad had a Pete Rose bat signed by Pete Rawlings. His his boss got it for him for like a gift at the end of the year, and I was going to USA Baseball. We couldn't afford any like good bats, and so I pulled this thing out of the sleeve, rubbed his name off of it, and used it in the USA down in Venezuela.

00:16:50
Speaker 2: Did you tell your dad about this.

00:16:51
Speaker 3: Oh he knew because he was, hey, I can't go out and buy you a bat, like you know what, like this is probably some pretty good wood. It might as well use it. So he wiped it off and I used it down at USA Baseball. Yeah, down in Venezuela. So that is pretty mud. Yeah, so I remember that bat. I'm trying to think, like I didn't really have anything that said.

00:17:14
Speaker 2: Like somebody's signature.

00:17:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, like I never really had that.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: I guess my my like I'm thinking, you know, me and my brother still talk about the gear we had when we were kids, Like is it kind of cool to think, like, you know, thirty years from now, a couple little league guys will get together and go like, I remember your mom. I was she always you know, took you to Dicks to get the new Harper cleans or whatever.

00:17:32
Speaker 3: It's kind of I think about it when I'm on base a lot, at first base or something and a guy's wearing them, or I'm on the on deck circle and a pictures wearing them. I always think about it because I'm like, oh man, it's it kind of puts things in perspective a little bit of like, man, this is really cool, you know, like this is a really cool thing of like, you know, I'm super grateful, I'm super super blessed what I have, and being able to kind of see that like come full circle of hey, this guy's wearing my stuff. Or you know, somebody going on first base the other day and I'm sitting there and I said, hey, man, congrats, you know, they be really cool, you know, really happy for you, and he goes, Man, I just I can't believe I'm playing against you right now. It's incredible. And so like those moments kind of flash into my head too, where I'm like, man, this is awesome. You know. He's like, oh, you're my idol, and I'm like, wow, like I appreciate that. That's really cool, you know, but like I hope you're way better than I am, you know what I'm saying like that because I root for everybody too, Like you know, you sit there and you I'm not scared of anybody having success. You know. I want everybody that does anything in their life, I want them to have great success in it because it just makes everybody else around us way better, you know. And so seeing guys have success, seeing people have success in their life, no matter what they do, is the coolest thing because you don't know what people have gone through. You don't know understand the work or what they've been through with their parents or their their you know, uncles or whatever whoever helped them gets to that point and all those late nights and early mornings or whatever for them to be able to see it come full circle in that moment is the coolest thing ever. And kind of be part of that at Space It's something I really enjoy and get to know guys, and you know, it's a it's a really cool moment for a lot of people, and I just I wish people so much success in what they do.

00:19:11
Speaker 5: You mentioned success, and you've had so much of the two MVPs, you've been to postseasons, you've been to a World Series.

00:19:18
Speaker 2: I think it's safe to say you're.

00:19:19
Speaker 5: Probably going to a little town up in New York someday upstate New York.

00:19:23
Speaker 2: But you haven't won a World Series.

00:19:25
Speaker 5: Does that gnaw at you? And is this twenty twenty four team a team that can get you that?

00:19:32
Speaker 1: Yeah?

00:19:32
Speaker 3: I mean I think those are the things that you think about, obviously when you get spring training every year. I mean, and as you go throughout your career, you know, you you look at Dan Marino, right he got there his first year and never got back, Like you look at people that have got there and never got back or gotten so close a couple of times and never got one. And those are the things that you want to do with your team, because those are the cool moments in the game, right Like obviously MVPs, silver slack, gold gloves like those, that's all really cool stuff individually. And I would never take that for granted, Like I love those things. I'm not gonna say I don't like that. But at the end of the day, if I look back at my career and you don't have a World Series, it's kind of like, man, like, that's that's the one, right, Like, that's that's what you want as a team. That's what you want as an organization, And that's that's what I want, you know, Like I just I think as a team as an organization is as much work as we put in and John and Dave and everybody else being able to share that moment I was. I was leaving some place today this morning with my wife and I was driving down the street and I feel like people have seen. I don't know if you guys have, but as I've walked, as I've drove down the street, you see, you've seen a lot of Phillies gear, a lot of wear and like their stuff. And I said to Kayla this morning, and I said, man, what it would be like to win a World Series? What an incredible thing it would be like? And she's, I mean obviously all in on sports, and you know she grew up playing soccer and competitive and so she gets the winning parts things like that. So I mean, just telling her that, just saying that to her, it just like it makes it that much more like you just you want it, like and I think as a team right now, like that's all we want. Like, I mean, if if you're not playing this game for that, then I don't know what you're playing it for, because there's there's no greater you know, no greater thing that you can do for a city or organization then to bring back a World Series.

00:21:23
Speaker 5: Did you Rubens been in won two World Series? And you were in both parades, right right, that's right. You were as a bat boy and then as an executive. Do you see pictures and videos of the oh wait, parade and what goes through your mind when you see it, and what do you think it would be like, uh, if you ever had one?

00:21:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I I just remember the comment everybody does, right, but no, I remember a lot of affliction in ed hardy stuff. That is so great.

00:21:56
Speaker 2: Oh my god, to pull that out is amazing, so much.

00:22:02
Speaker 3: That is so great. I remember that a lot and all those like crazy looking glasses. But I mean I was still in high school, so I was was it just got downe my freshman year, So I remember that vividly in my head seeing that, and then obviously the next year no. Nine, you know, not being able to get done terrible but you know, great series against the Yankees. But I mean just seeing those moments and being able to kind of when you're that age too, like you don't really think about the concept of winning a world Series because you're thinking about winning a state championship, right, Like that was that's kind of like the feeling. And I never got a state championship, but I've won gold medals and I've won a lot of tournaments and things like that and nationals and all that stuff. And so to get back to those moments like that's what you want, because those are the cool parts of being young and playing with your buddies and winning with your buddies, and you know, putting your arms around everybody in those moments and just having that fun. And I couldn't imagine, you know, sharing it with the city this big and this great, and so we're hoping as a team we can get back.

00:22:59
Speaker 4: I want to ask you a little bit about your childhood because and because you were a great athlete period, end of story. Why baseball? What made you take your world to baseball?

00:23:10
Speaker 3: And why? Yeah, So when I was younger, I actually my first love was football, Like I absolutely loved it. I wanted to be an outside linebacker and kind of line up and come up front and drop back, and that was I loved hitting guys and going across the middle, come around the corner and the edge and crushing a quarterback that didn't see me coming like that was like my favorite thing to do. And so I would. I started playing football eight years old, Pop Warner, And as I went through I would sit there and we I'd have football practice, and before football practice, I'd always go to the cage and I'd have my football pads on and I'd hit in the cage with my dad and then go to football practice. And so I did that all the time. And then obviously the more and more I grew up, you know, ten eleven, twelve years old, i'd play baseball. And my dad was all about playing every other sport too, like he wanted the athleticism from all the sports, right, And so I played basketball the way up into eighth grade. I played football the way up into my freshman year, and obviously played baseball the most out of any of those. But he loved the seasons. And my snowboarded growing up. Every every winter we'd go up and I'd snowboard, and that was a big thing too, Like he wasn't scared of us getting hurt doing anything else. Like he just didn't matter. Like there was a lot of you know, there's a lot of things that like parents were scared of their kids to get hurt skateboarding if they had a tournament that weekend, or you know, anything like that. My dad wasn't like that. He wanted us to skateboard. He wanted us to you know, boogie board and surf and do all the things that we could do. Because he would pull that athleticism from all those other you know, all those other sports, and he would interpret it of like, hey, let's go play baseball. But I loved the game of baseball. There was something about it that just pulled me, and I gravitated towards towards it so much. And I mean we'd come home after a weekend, I'd played seven eight games in a weekend, We'd win the tournament, and I'd come back on a Monday and go, Dad, let's go hit. Like it was just that's just how That's how I wanted to do. That's how that's how I kind of programmed and processed it. And I really really enjoyed that, you know, just the dynamic of that. And he instilled so much confidence in me and my sister and my brother and everything that we did. I mean, he was he was just so good at it. I mean, I'll tell you one snip of so. When I was younger, you know, we were lower middle class, Like we weren't. My mom and dad worked their butts off to get us everything we needed to get. They wouldn't into you know, thousands of dollars in debt to put us in tournaments and everything else, like that. But like my dad would always like we'd go and it we'd hit right, and we'd be on two hundred foot fences or something when I was like nine, and he would go buy the best baseballs in the store and it'd be like baiten or like a ten ten, just so that we had pearls, so that we could hit the ball as far as we could. He wanted us to have the confidence and everything that we did. So like I'd go deep on a two hundred foot fence and I'd go, you know, two hundred and twenty five feet, tw hundred and thirty feet. But these baseballs were as a rock, just like professional baseball, right, And so you know, we'd go into three hundred offences and I'm like twelve, and I'm going deep on three hundred offences and it's like going three thirty five, you know, and He's like, gosh, dang, dude, these balls are jumping, you know. And so like as I got older, i was thinking, I'm like sitting there, going Dad, what you know? I never knew? And he goes, you know, I did that, he said, because I wanted you to have the confidence to go deep in any park that you hit no matter if it was a high school ballpark or a little league ballpark or anything else. I wanted you to have the confidence. And it doesn't I don't care like the it was. I'll never blink and wish I had that money back because I wanted to instill that confidence and everything that you did when you were younger, no matter what. And so I always thought that was pretty cool.

00:26:41
Speaker 2: Really cool. We've got to let you go, and thanks so much for the time.

00:26:46
Speaker 3: Just keep going. I want to keep going.

00:26:48
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, till your dad.

00:26:50
Speaker 3: I watched him three ten.

00:26:52
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask it, nowt is Crew old enough to play t ball yet? Or is it give me next year? And how cool is that going to be? Have you thought about that? Because that's you know, whether he becomes big leaguer or doesn't have any interest in baseball. I means now you're a dad, So now you're in the shoot right now, you know what I mean?

00:27:09
Speaker 3: Literallygue will be a lot different, you know. I think being able to kind of have him go out and just do his thing, just have fun and enjoy it. I really I don't want to push him to play anything, you know, I want him to kind of pick and choose kind of what he wants to do, and you know, have not think like, hey, my dad's affilly, I have to be a filly, or like, hey my dad's doing this, so I have to do this. I want him to draw his own line and really, you know, drive his own course, you know, really like go out there and just if he wants to play ball, then then I'll teach him to play ball. But anything that he does, I want him to do to the best visibility, right Like, I don't want him to just go out and just do it, like if we're gonna do it, if we're gonna put the time in, like, I want him to do it to the best of visibility. And you know, I obviously it's going to be you know, the Harper name and things like that, right Like, I feel like there's a lot of kids that have gone through that in professional sports and it is what it is. But also like I just want him to go out and play the game and love the game, you know, like really like sit down and love the game and smell the grass and the leather and like putting on a new pair of cleats and hearing the metal cleats clack. You know what, I'm saying, like, those are like the things I want him to kind of learn and and see. And I think him coming into clubhouses and stuff like that when he gets of age, like and kind of learning from from different big leaguers and stuff like. I want him to respect the game and understand the way to play and all those things. And you know, but also I want him to gravitate towards other sports because of the athletics is the part. If he wants to play hockey, if he wants to play baseball, if people wants to play football, I want him to do that, just like my daughter, like if she wants to play soccer or whatever she wants to do, like I want her to gravitate towards whatever she wants to do. You know, you were.

00:28:50
Speaker 5: Mentioning your dad and how he built confidence in you, and that is such a gift that he gave to you. But I still remember the night he pitched VP at the home run derby in Washington. I mean, that man can bring it.

00:29:04
Speaker 3: No, he's good man. He's got he's got a cutter that goes right into my barrel. And he's been that way since we were younger. Man, he uh it was crazy because I'm so lucky that I had a dad that I did and still am today because I can still call him and be like, Pop, what do you got for me? I mean, I remember we were going from San Diego to Anaheim. I'd been struggling and I struggled in San Diego and I came up to Anaheim. I talked to him for like an hour and a half and just talk to him, just like, you know, what do you got, what do you think? And just he he kind of just he just mellows me out, you know. And I mean there's times obviously we go back and forth and no, you're wrong, you're this, you're that, you know, and like we'd go back and forth and we chewed each other, eating each other a little bit. But that was our that was our you know, that was us. That was that was kind of how we went about it. And you know, he was he was my hero growing up. You know, he was my guy like and he's still like he is that. You know, he's my best friend. I call him all the time. We talk about anything and ever thing. But he's just some of the drills he did too. He'd pull some stuff, man, and like I'd have a broomstick with uh with uh red beans, Like I'd do that stuff a lot, and he'd pull that stuff from like the Dominican like, you know, I'd say a lot of that from I talked to our hitting guy bottle caps. You know, we did bottle caps all the time. We would have so I'd have the broomstick and he'd do bottle caps. But our bottle caps. And this was different from the Dominican way is you know Dominican way, they kind of do it out front, like flick them. So he would flick them this way and hit into a net, but he would put a fan like right next to it, and so he would flick it right in front of the fan and it would yeah, and you'd have to hay that coordination would make sure empty like empty T.

00:30:46
Speaker 2: Was like so cool.

00:30:48
Speaker 3: So he would put it right in front and it would move and he'd be like wam. And so empty T was like really big to him, and he pulled that from like Jeter, Like Jeter was big, like empty T. And Jeter would never look down the cage and so like he would be like, hey, empty T, empty tee. And so it was like the little things like that. Like I would get out of whack a little bit and go, well, you're not seeing the ball right, like your head's out in the right field, your head out left field, Like see the ball, get it deeper, hit it out of the cuff left center, boom, and like I'd block it right back in. You know. So those are things when I was younger, Like it just was fun because he would make it funner, like ATX, like he would he would throw at X to me a lot, you know, the yeah, And so that was like when I was younger, younger, and they would rise, and so I'd really have to get on top of the ball or like I would be missing it a couple of times, you know, in two games, I'd miss it or I'd be like fallon balls off. When I was younger, and he would he would throw me tennis balls. And so when you try to hit a tennis ball with a metal bat, it would flip off. Even if you would square it up, like it would kind of flip off, but when you really squared it up and see it, it would you know, you blind driver exactly. And so I'd get so mad sometimes, but it was so funny, like and he would like I'd be like eleven years old and I'd be found stuff off fell stuff, I throw my bath, I'm pissed, and and he just he started laughing, you know, he started laughing. He goes, Okay, it's okay, you're fine, you're gonna get it. You're gonna get it. And sure's crap, man. I'd you know, six of them had hit feel good. And then we switched to regular baseballs and I'd mash, you know, like that was big, you know, and he'd always he put a wood bat in my hand immediately. I was like eleven years old, ten years old, wood bat, heavy wood bat immediately into my hands. And then I'd switched to aluminum, and that would like that'd be like my prize.

00:32:27
Speaker 4: Rent.

00:32:28
Speaker 3: He'd be, Okay, you can hit with the luminum, that's great, but can you go backside three hundred and fifty feet with a wood bat? You know, like let's do that, because that's cool, you know, going going light tower power to right field, like that's that's fine, but left center would bat, that's cool, you know. So like those are the things that like he really he did so good, like and those are the things I want to And he'd always be like, hey, where I went, where I went left? I want you to go right with crew? Like those are the things like he would teach me, you know really still to this day, Like you know, there was days where we'd have bad, but we had a lot of good days as well, and you know he was so good still is great.

00:33:05
Speaker 2: One last one for me. A lot of parents are going to be listening to this. What would you tell a parent that's trying to get their kid in a good position ahead of baseball at maybe cruise age or just a little bit. What's the most important thing you would tell him?

00:33:18
Speaker 3: Let him be athletic. Let the athleticism kind of play, you know, don't try to teach him all these different swings at this point in their life or their career. Right. Obviously, if you look at a baby, a baby is perfect a toddler, right, So like when you look at a baby or a toddler, the way they pick things up or the way they do things is the perfect human body. And so when they go down to pick stuff up off the ground, they always go into a squad they pick it up, and it's perfect. And so life kind of hits us and we get away from that perfection of Okay, hey, we're just going to bend down and grab something instead of squatting down, grabbing something and going. And so we lose the athleticism at times in our life because we take the easy way, right, Like we take the easy way, or we want to do something this way or that way instead of just doing it the normal human way of going down picking it up. Oh, that feels a lot better on my back, or hey, that feels a lot better on my knees or whatever. And so the athleticism still has to play, like we still have to let the game, you know, evolve with athleticism first. And then you can find two things like I want Crew to have the athleticism and just hitting on baseball, right like, obviously he's four years old. He can hit off a tee. I'll throw to him, and he likes when I throw to him better than off the tea, and he'll whack off you know, me throwing to him, and I mean, he just the way his athleticism plays first is what I want. And so I would say athleticism is huge in the first couple of years of life, really just letting the.

00:34:47
Speaker 2: Pull from that.

00:34:48
Speaker 3: And then as you get older. You know, fine tuning a swing is you're going to fine tune it the best way you can. But your swing is always your swing. Like you can move or do this or do that in multiple different ways. And you guys see me all night. I go, I go at bats at bat. I mean, there's there's signs where I don't really do it, and it's just it's just I mean, but I feel like that's my athleticism, kind of like playing through my swing. But it's just I think people kind of, oh, hey, I want you to hit like Judge, or hey, I want you hit like Sodo, or hey, I want you to hit like you know, Mike Schmid, or hey, I want you to hit like Chase Utley. Like not many people can have their bat out like this when a pitcher starts and comes up and slaps on their you know, their shoulder and swings like Utly, you know, like Utley would stay out here and the guy would go into emotion and be like the second this guy gonna be ready to hit, and he'd go up here, tap and go and hit like a double in the gap and you're like, holy crap, but only Chance Outly can do that. You know what I'm saying, Like, there's only certain things that people can do with their athleticism and their game, and be yourself. That's my biggest thing to a lot of guys in our clubhouse too, is like be yourself. Don't try to be anybody else because they drafted you for a reason. Like you're here for a reason, right, Like they got you to where you are for a reason, or your swing and your athletic ability got you you to where you are now. Obviously, you can always get better, you can always find tune and do everything you can, but like, let your ethis, let us play first and then find too.

00:36:10
Speaker 2: That's awesome, Thanks man, Thanks man, And play every sport that you can.

00:36:13
Speaker 3: Because like a lot of.

00:36:14
Speaker 4: The things like you are saying things right now that my brother and I preach, we were involved in youth sports that we talk about all the time. Everybody wants to specialize so much that those words ring so true about the athleticism playing different sports.

00:36:28
Speaker 3: I mean I remember playing three of them right.

00:36:30
Speaker 2: Every you know, every single season.

00:36:31
Speaker 3: Well, you can look at Jackson Holiday right now, right and he didn't really do any of the perfect game stuff. You know, you look at Ethan holiday as well, Like they'll go to like the big ones they need to, but they play their high school ball and they just hang out and do whatever they want to do with you know, everything else. Like what I did in my career is a lot different. I played one hundred and sixty seventy games a year in baseball, and I loved it. I did, Like I love traveling across the country. I loved going to Oklahoma and Florida and California and Zone and playing all this ball. But I just I love doing that. That was something I love to do. But also I just snowboarded. You know, I played football. I played basketball like I played my seasons, but on the weekends, I was playing baseball. You know what I'm saying. Like I did, But I just I feel like parents get so locked in on the rankings and like, oh, hey, you got to be number one in your state's eleven years old, and it's like you look.

00:37:23
Speaker 5: At you look at Jeter. Jeter was a great basketball player, and you know you can see that when you play When he played short stuff, you can see that lateral movement almost as an extension of guarding a player on the basketball course.

00:37:36
Speaker 3: Sure, no doubt and like that's the thing, right, you're going to learn I mean outfielders going and getting a ball in the outfield if you're running a round or you're playing corner or like whatever it is, like you're jumping routes and things like that. Obviously, you get to the point in your life that you need to pick what you want to do. You know, you get to fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, like you kind of get into that like era, like are you as good at football? Are you as baseball? If you are, keep going be a two way great, that's awesome. But if you're not, then that's when you kind of like, Okay, I can specialize in this. I'm sixteen years old. I kind of got to figure it out, you know, to a point where I need to and then go from there. But at such a young age, it's just.

00:38:15
Speaker 5: Why right with you specialize well rounded?

00:38:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, being a great athlete.

00:38:20
Speaker 4: That's why the great athletes are great athletes, because they're so athletic for sure.

00:38:24
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:38:25
Speaker 2: Well, thanks man for the time. We appreciate. Enjoy Enjoy London. Interested to see with the shoes and the bad.

00:38:32
Speaker 5: Anything you anything you want to do in London? Non baseball, just.

00:38:36
Speaker 3: Dinner, just food. I love food, you know, being able to kind of go over there and try some different restaurants. I love Indian food. That's one of the places to go. I love Indian food. So I'm excited about that. Obviously. I think there were I've already looked up some places, so I'm really excited about that. I have a thing called Michelin Guide on my phone, and so everything's like mission restaurants, right, so expensive four star you know, or five star like all that kind of stuff. But there's actually on the Michelin app there's this like lower grade Michelins that don't have stars yet that are really really good restaurants. It's like Michelin Guided, right, And I mean you can get like an incredible meal for like twenty bucks. You know, it could be like a it could be like a you know, hole in the wall place that nobody knows about, and it's like one of the best meals you've ever had. It's awesome. Yeah, that's right, man, really cool.

00:39:27
Speaker 2: Appreciate it, man, awesome. Thank you dude, Thanks so much.

00:39:30
Speaker 3: That's great.

00:39:31
Speaker 2: Thanks again to Bryce Harper for the time. We did not expect that extra time at the end, we had so much fun. I hope you did too, Remember Shy Bench of Sports. Go to one of the three locations, Center City, Wayne or Westchester tell them the Phillies Show sent you for fifteen percent off, or go to ship sports dot com use the Phillies Show promo code for fifteen percent off. The Philly Show will be back next week when the Phillies are back from London. Thanks everybody, This is the Philly Show. If you haven't already, please subscribe to The Phillies Show wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch us on our YouTube channel. If you like what we do, give us a review, Tell a friend. Catch Rubenjim and Me on Phillies Nation TV, presented by Valley Forge Tourism. New episodes air an hour before every Saturday Phillies game on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Replays air throughout the week and on Philliesnation dot com. Get more of Reuben's analysis during before and after Phillies games on NBC Sports Philadelphia, on the Sports Radio ninety four, WIP Morning Show, and MLB Network. Rejim at the Allcity Network at Allphly dot com. Find more of me at MLB dot com, the PHILLIESB newsletter, and occasionally on MLB Network