"Absolutely no question about it (Harper) has become the player our league needs and he knows it and cherishes it," Papelbon wrote on his Twitter/X account Monday. "Some may not believe this but I pull harder for him than any other player. #BrotherlyLove"
Few questioned Harper's talent then or now. The 2015 season might still count as the high-water mark of his 13-year career, but he's collected four NL All-Star Game nods and another MVP award in the years that followed.
However, Papelbon wasn't questioning Harper's talent — only his hustle.
Did Papelbon's actions motivate Harper, either consciously or subconsciously, to remedy the public perception of his effort? Maybe. Either way, it's hard to say whether Harper's teammates responded any differently to him behind closed doors before and after the Papelbon incident. And Harper had already won over fans before he won over his toughest critic in the Nationals' clubhouse.
Among fans, Harper's willingness to show personality on and off the field has been a major component of his stardom regardless of his individual statistics.
Harper has reached a new level of stardom since signing a 13-year, $330 million contract before the 2019 season. By leading the Phillies to the NL Championship Series each of the last two years — and winning the NLCS MVP award in 2022 — Harper has done something he failed to accomplish in seven seasons (2012-18) with the Nationals.
Still only 31 years old, Harper has an outside chance to reach 350 career home runs and 1,000 RBIs this season. Reaching those milestones in so little time would make it difficult for Hall of Fame voters to exclude Harper from Cooperstown someday, if he hasn't clinched his spot already.
Fighting with Papelbon has become a footnote in Harper's legacy. Still, it's no small feat to have the only teammate willing to stand up to him publicly so firmly in his corner today.
When for Phillie/National Jonathan Papelbon fought former National and current Phillies' slugger Bryce Harper in the Washington Nationals' dugout as cameras rolled during a famous Sept. 2015 incident, the consequences were predictably large.
The Nationals suspended Papelbon for four games — effectively, the remainder of the season — without pay. "It tore us apart as a team," Papelbon would later say about the fight.
The closer called a team meeting, but the fallout had already been set in motion. The Nationals missed the playoffs. Harper would go on to win the National League Most Valuable Player award, but manager Matt Williams was fired and replaced with Dusty Baker after the season.
For their part, Papelbon and Harper mended fences. Both returned to the Nationals' roster the following season. By the time they reported to spring training, their fight amounted to water under the bridge.
In the years that followed, fights in major league dugouts became especially rare. No player wants to turn a spat with a teammate into a public spectacle when they can instead hash out their differences (however intense) in the clubhouse or in a hallway, where the cameras aren't rolling.
That's one reason why the Papelbon-Harper spat still reverberates nine years later. It wasn't merely a spectacular fight involving one of the game's marquee players; even small dugout dust-ups over the last decade have been hard to come by.
Phillies First Baseman Bryce Harper
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