Bryce Harper and his love of Philadelphia was as evident and powerful as ever during his postgame interview with Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen on SportsRadio 94WIP, after the Phillies' series-clinching 8-4 win over the Royals on Sunday.
Harper was emotional talking about the way Philadelphia fans rose to the occasion over the weekend and gave struggling first-year Phillie Trea Turner multiple standing ovations, eventually sparking a go-ahead three-run home run Saturday night.
Harper gushes about the fans:
“Everybody talks about it, right? Like, ‘Oh, it’s one of the hardest places to play,’ and, ‘Free agents don’t want to come here because it’s hard.’ But they just don’t understand. They don’t get it. They don’t get what it’s like to play here day in and day out, having the fan base that we do and the way they go about it. It is hard, right? But it’s incredible.
“I’m standing here getting chills, because it’s like, I wouldn’t want a fan base any other way. They want you to work hard, they want you to play hard, they want you to perform. They’re spending their hard-earned dollar to come watch you play each night. But they have feel for it also.
“I have so much emotion toward it because, it’s just — I absolutely frickin’ love it. I mean, I don’t want to play anywhere else. I wish I started my career just the way it is, and how lucky we are to do this. And just such an incredible moment for [Turner] to be able to go out there and know that the fans have his back and have our team’s back.
“That should be something for us to as a team to take advantage of and know, they got us. No matter what, they got us. And being able to know that on a personal level and on a team level as well, there’s nothing greater.
“We just have such a great fan base and I’m so thankful to be here and be part of it.”
Listen to the full interview via Nick Piccone on Twitter (now known as X).
Turner, who signed an 11-year, $300 million contract with the Phils this off-season, entered this 10-game stretch at Citizens Bank Park on Friday coming off his worst series of the season, which included an 0-5 game where he booted a ball in extra innings, costing the Phillies the win.
This weekend, Turner went 4-12 with a home run and 5 RBI.
Turner was incredibly thankful to Philadelphia fans during his post-game press conferences, and he even bought billboards to thank the fans.