PHILADELPHIA — A few minutes before 3 p.m. Friday, Bryce Harper will step onto the grass at Citizens Bank Park. Maybe he’ll wear his neon-green cleats with the googly Phillie Phanatic eyeballs and green fuzz. Maybe he’ll go with a Liberty Bell theme. Or with “JAWN” stitched in block letters around the laces. Or with Will Smith decking Rocky.
Whatever the case, the reigning National League MVP will play to his surrogate city. Then, moments before the first pitch, the gesture of gratitude. He will face the fans in the right-field bleachers, doff his hat, raise both arms over his head, bend at the waist, and bow theatrically, as though he just performed all five acts of Macbeth.
It’s what Harper does.
