Bryce Harper’s promise to bring a World Series title back to D.C. has been among most interesting parts of Nats spring training, the sort of thing that’s launched PTI segments and Chris Russo rants and e-mailers making fun of me for writing so many items about the same insignificant quote.
Anyhow, we’ve now entered phase two of the Bryce Harper World Series Promise story, in which Harper explains why he has the robust confidence he does. Like, there was this, to Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller:
“I just have confidence in my team, in our ability,” Harper [said]. “If you look at it, I don’t say it arrogantly. It’s genuine, how I feel about my team. People don’t have confidence in our team. I mean, they do, but the average person is going to look at it and say, ‘We hate the Nationals. We hope they don’t play well, blah, blah, blah.’
“You’ve got to have the confidence you need coming in because everybody in this league wants to beat us. We’ve got to have that confidence of wanting to win and doing the things we need to do to get us a ring, get a title. That’s how it is.”
He echoed those comments Thursday in a conversation with 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier.
“You know, I say the things I say because I have confidence in my team,” Harper said. “I have confidence in their ability to go out there and play every single night. And some people don’t have confidence in us, so we’ve got to have all the confidence in the world. We’ve got to have that chip on our shoulder going out there, because people want to see us fail. Other teams want to see us fail. And that’s just baseball. That’s just how it is.
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“And I want to go out there, I want to succeed, I want my team to succeed, and I want to have all the confidence in the world,” Harper went on. “So I’m gonna build them up, I’m gonna talk as much as I can to them and tell them hey, I’ve got confidence in you. We’re going out and playing every single night under these lights, and we’ve got to bust our butt and play hard and have the confidence in our abilities to go out there and win. And if we have that, then we’re ahead.”
The main message seems to be that Harper has confidence in the Nats. And I guess he’s correct that other teams want to see them fail.
The outfielder also repeated his frequent declaration of love for Washington and its people, when he was asked about his minor offseason disagreement with the team, which was fairly amicably resolved.
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“I thank Mr. Lerner every single time I see him, because it’s a great opportunity to be able to play Major League Baseball, and they had the faith in me at such a young age,” Harper said. “I respect [Mike] Rizzo, I respect the Lerners, how they did it. And I love being part of D.C., I love being part of the fans. I truly do.
“You know, that’s not BS,” Harper said. “I truly do. And if I didn’t like it, I’d probably tell somebody about it, because that’s how I am. I mean, truly, I enjoy playing every single night in D.C. There’s nothing like playing in the nation’s capital. It’s a very cool opportunity, it’s very fun, and truly, if I had a problem with it I’d probably tell somebody.”
Harper also discussed his celebrity with Paulsen and Rouhier, celebrities in their own right.
“Reggie Jackson used to always say, if they’re not booing you, you must not be that good,” Harper said, again echoing a previous message. “And I’ve always taken that [to mean], if they keep booing me, if they keep asking me for my autograph then I’m doing things the right way. So it’s a blessing to be able to walk by somebody and they say ‘Hey, there’s Bryce Harper, hey can I get an autograph, or hey can I get a picture.’
“Once they stop asking for it, then you’re probably not welcome anymore. So it’s something I enjoy, it’s something I look forward to. People in D.C. are so great about it.”
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