Bryce Harper on Killing His Hair and Keeping ‘The Mighty Ducks’ Alive
Bryce Harper is just 23 years old, but his resume is already stacked: National League Rookie of the Year, three All-Star appearances, the best hair in the bigs – you don’t even need to check his references to know he’s legit. And after a stellar season in which he dominated at the dish, he was the unanimous choice for NL MVP, becoming youngest player to ever win the award in a clean sweep.
Now, he’s adding another title to that already crowded CV: Brand ambassador for New Era, the official cap of Major League Baseball. Harper joins a host of former MVPs (like Andrew McCutchen and Buster Posey) and a lineup of MLB‘s young stars (like Jacob deGrom, Marcus Stroman and Kyle Schwarber) on the New Era team, and late last week, he sat down for his official photo shoot – but not before he spoke to Rolling Stone about everything he’s accomplished to date. And the unfinished business he’s still got to take care of with the Washington Nationals.
Make no mistake about it; though Harper soared in 2015, the Nationals sunk. But, with a new manager at the helm and MLB postseason hero Daniel Murphy in the lineup, he’s confident that this is the year Washington lives up to the preseason hype – and hoists the first World Series flag in the nation’s capital in nearly 100 years. Here’s what Harper had to say about his offseason training regimen, the tremendous expectations heaped upon him and why they should never remake The Mighty Ducks.
You’re doing a shoot for the New Era campaign today. Do you have any go-to modeling poses? Like, do you break out the Blue Steel?
Not really. I just try to do the best I can, be myself, smile. That’s important. But there’s no real secret or anything like that. I had worked with New Era on their All-Star Game campaign, with Nina Agdal, so I’ve done a bit of modeling, if you’d call it that. Honestly, it’s great to be a brand ambassador for New Era, because I’ve grow up with them. Ever since I was 5 or 6 years old, I was wearing snapbacks or beanies, and it was always New Era or nothing else.
Coming off a season like you had, do you dare make any changes to your offseason routine?
I’ve been lying low, trying to enjoy the time off, because during the season it’s “Go Go Go” all the time, and that starts to get tough. So I’ve traveled a little bit, spent some time with my friends and family, but now it’s back to working out, getting on my routine. I started hitting on January 1 – I’ve honestly had the same approach my whole life; I didn’t change anything heading into last season, it was just that I was able to stay healthy.