Bryce Harper cemented his status as a Philadelphia legend on Sunday. He capped off his tremendous NLCS with a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to send the Phillies to the World Series.
Harper won the NL MVP award last season and earned the NLCS MVP award as well. One of the most sought-after free agents in baseball history signed in Philadelphia, and Phillies fans are glad he did.
The home run that Harper hit in Game 5 is what kids dream of growing up – only it was the bottom of the eighth, not the ninth, and it was the NLCS, not the World Series. Still, there hasn’t been a more important home run in Phillies history and it’s rare that a team’s superstar gets to take that shot.
Jack Fritz and James Seltzer of the Audacy Original Podcast “High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast” talked about Harper’s legendary home run and how a moment like that doesn’t happen in baseball very often.
“We don’t have to do this whole fake smart thing. We can just admit that the Harper home run was the biggest home run in Phillies history. It was to send the Phillies to the World Series,” Fritz said (24:34 in player above). “I hate every single win probability stat … but by win probability added, it was the second biggest hit in Phillies postseason history. So the first one was obviously Rollins because it won the game … and number two was the Harper home run… Yes, it is the biggest home run in Phillies history.”
The Phillies had a few special moments during their 2008 run, including Matt Stairs’ home run deep into the night in Los Angeles. But this was in Philadelphia and sent the Phillies to the World Series.
Harper seized the moment.
“I think that Bryce Harper knew just how mammoth, how massive, how important that home run was,” Seltzer said. “Let’s take it out of just the Phillies context, just in the baseball context. October is about creating myth and creating legends. That’s what happens in the playoffs in baseball. You create legends.
“It’s so rare that it’s the actual superstar – the guy who’s already a legend – who actually has the legendary moment. And the beautiful thing about baseball is you don’t get to choose who gets that chance, right? You don’t get to choose who comes up in the spot with the runner on in the bottom of the eighth,” Seltzer continued.
“Bryce Harper might never get that chance. He could never get the opportunity just by circumstance – by the way the game is – to step up in that type of opportunity in that game in that specific spot, and yet, when he gets that spot, he actually goes up and takes advantage of it and becomes a freaking legend.”
Harper was on the cover of “Sports Illustrated” as a teenager. He won the NL Rookie of the Year award at 19 years old and his first MVP when he was just 22. Now, the 30-year-old NLCS MVP had his legendary playoff moment.
“It is not exaggerating, it is not hyperbolic to say that is the stuff of legends. That was a legendary moment that Bryce Harper had and in a lot of ways it was like a baseball legend moment,” Seltzer said. “I really believe that.”
“It was the most basketball shot of a home run ever,” Fritz said.
“I’m happy you said that because that’s what makes baseball different. In basketball, you can say ‘Alright, LeBron, you get to take that shot. Alright, Kobe. Whoever. Jordan, you get to take that shot,’” Seltzer said. “In baseball, you don’t get to choose. You don’t get to say it’s Bryce Harper that gets to take that shot, it just worked out that Bryce Harper got to take the shot. He nailed it. That’s what makes it so cool.”
The baseball Gods worked in Harper and the Phillies’ favor and the reigning NL MVP took advantage.
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