Bryce Harper certainly has had a flair for the dramatic when he steps into the batter’s box. During Monday’s game against the San Francisco Giants, in fact, he used his first at-bat as a gender reveal for his fourth child.
Harper asked Philadelphia Phillies teammate Trea Turner to provide him with a blue or pink bat prior to his at-bat in the first inning. Turner ended up giving him a blue bat to signify that the Harpers’ fourth child will be a boy.
“I was confused at first, but I think he wanted to share that moment with us,” Turner said, per MLB.com. “I think it was pretty cool. He’s a pretty creative guy. He let us know in our team meeting. He kind of wanted to share the moment with everybody. He was nice enough to ask me to do it. I thought it was a nice moment for him and his family. I think they were all watching here from up top.”
Harper gets his custom bats from Victus Sports, which is located in the Philadelphia suburb of King of Prussia. The company then produced one blue bat and one pink bat that were delivered to Citizens Bank Park prior to Monday’s contest.
“I got a text message with the gender,” Turner added. “I messed with him a little bit in the dugout. I picked up the pink one and swung it around a little bit. He thought he was having a girl, so I had to mess with him a little bit. Sure enough, it was a boy. I ended up handing him the blue one, and he was pretty happy.”
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Harper and his wife, Kayla, have a son, Krew, along with two daughters, Brooklyn and Kamyrn. Now the Harpers will be two boys and two girls.
“Like I said, he thought he was having a girl,” Turner said. “So when I was messing with him, he was like, ‘I knew it was a girl.’ Then, I handed him the blue one. I said, ‘You’re not going to need that pink one.’ He was just excited. I think he would have been excited either way, but now, he’s got two of each. Kind of a complete family already, but like I said, anytime you can add another person to the family, I think it’s special. I think he was super excited.”
Sadly, Harper struck out with his custom blue bat, but it was hard to ruin such a heartwarming moment. He went 1-for-5 at the plate in Monday’s 10-4 loss to the Giants.
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