High Hopes: A Phillies Podcast - Bryce Harper Joins Marks and Reese!

Episode Date: August 31, 2023

Phillies superstar Bryce Harper calls in to talk with Jon Marks and Ike Reese about the Phillies, Chuck and the Trea Turner standing ovation. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bryce Harper joins us right now. Phil's in Milwaukee. He normally listens, Ike, during the 2 o'clock hour. Maybe he's out there listening in Milwaukee. Bryce, how you doing, buddy? What's up, y'all? How are you? Well, I mean, first of all, Bryce, congratulations on 300. Ike and I were talking during the game, and it's like, Bryce is going to get this home run at home. I'd be surprised if he didn't hit a home run today. You hit the home run. Congratulations. Quite a feat. Thank you so much, yeah. It was definitely a thought going into the last day.

I would have loved to have done it at home. And I was able to do it, you know, in that last at-bat. And, you know, bummer we didn't get a takeaway of that win, you know, to sweep that series. But, you know, really cool moment for myself and the fans as well. And, man, you've had several, several of these moments, maybe not hitting certain milestones, but certainly just, just whenever the moment causes for you to be at your best,

you've been able to answer that call. And I'm just wanting to listen. I, I was a role player as a player, Bryce, and so the great athlete, the guys like yourself, some of the other great players I play with, you guys just have the unique ability to be at your best when your best is needed. And I'm just wondering, what's that like for you to have that sort of pressure? It seems like you embrace it, but what's that like for you to be in that moment whenever the pressure is at its greatest, you don't seem to fold, you seem to embrace it but what's that like for you to be in that moment whenever the pressure is at its greatest you don't seem to fold you seem to embrace it yeah I mean I think growing up um you know I was in a lot of those moments you know growing up and had a lot of fun playing in big

tournaments and high leverage situations at such young ages um and I love the moments I love the you know kind of built for this kind of thing and And you live for this, the MLB old, you know, slogan, you know, you live for this and you live for these moments. And that's what it's all about, trying to, you know, play as a team and understand as a team that any of those guys on our team can have those moments. And it doesn't matter if you're a rookie or a role player or anything, you know, each guy on our team, you know,

tries to do their job the best they can. And whenever I'm in those situations, I try to do that. You know, I try to just slow the game down as best as possible and have no heartbeat and just try to go up there and then play the game that I love and understand that it's the same game I've been playing at a higher level. Right. But just understanding that, you know,

any given time I can get up there and those kinds of situations are in those spots. I want the, I want the moment. I want to be able to go up there and do everything I can get up there and those kind of situations or in those spots, I want the moment. I want to be able to go up there and do everything I can, help my team win in all those spots. So I really enjoy it. You know, crowd going crazy on the road or at home. I just, I love those moments.

And I look forward to, you know, many more. I mean, August has been awesome for you guys as a team and then us as fans. But for you as an individual, you have now finally started to resemble Bryce Harper, right? I mean, for the layman's out there with us. With you, we've also associated your great hitting with having power as well and being able to really be a complete player. We talked to you early in the spring. I think you had just got to spring training.

Hadn't even really got going yet. And I'm wondering for you, what's it been like this year? Coming back from Tommy John surgery, missing the first part of the season, getting in here, getting off to a little bit of a slow start from a power surge, and then being where you are now. What's this year been like for you as an individual yeah um you know started the off season and you know as you guys know had the surgery and got through it um and got to spring training didn't really have an off season didn't really you know have time to work out or anything like that worked out the lower half as much as

possible um you know got my rehab going and things like that um you know didn't see you know bp or anything like that during the offseason. So I had to really kind of get it going as quick as possible and had a great training staff. I mean, still to this day, I'm still rehabbing, you know, as much as possible with shoulder and everything like that. So it's still continuing. You know, we're at the nine-month mark right now, I think it is,

or eight-and-a-half-month mark right now. So we're still going through that process of, okay, we still need to throw, we still need to rehab this, we still need to make sure you're doing all your shoulder exercises and all your elbow exercises day in and day out. So it's been good being able to still have the DH and, you know, playing first base, learn a new position, kind of a new mindset over there at first. But it's been great, you know, being able to have the teammates that I do, being able to have the training staff and Tomper and everybody kind of have my back and understand that, you know,

this is kind of what I'm going through right now or even at the time, you know, early in the year. And then now it's been great. You know, we have so many guys in that clubhouse that have been around the game for a long time, a lot of veteran guys that understand the day in and day out of that grind. It might be a little different if I was on a different team just because not many teams have the clubhouse that we do or the guys or the training staff that we do. We're very fortunate in this organization to have the players that we do, the trainers and

ownership and everybody that really is involved each day. So it's been really good, you know, beginning of the year, of course, not being where I wanted to be, power rise and things like that. I wasn't ever really, you know, worried about that. You know, with time it would come and, you know, at this point, you know, hopefully it keeps going. Yeah, it certainly seems like it's come. We're talking bryce harper marks and reese 94 wip um bryce that you were right there obviously and i have to give our producer jack fritz credit he came up with the idea that

said how about we give trey turner a standing ovation and then we brought it on the air and before you know it trey got a a standing ovation, as you know, at Citizens Bank Park. How much of an impact did you think the ovation made for Trey? He's had an unbelievable August. How much do you think that helped Trey turning things around? Yeah, I mean, any time you're able to have a fan base behind you, like we do have, I mean, there's nothing like going into the bank and having the stadium go crazy for you. And for them to be able to do that and stand up. And I mean, it all started from you guys, right? I mean,

Jack being able to kind of get that going. I know there's a lot of people that take credit for it and things like that, but him being able to get that going and understanding kind of what Trey was going through. This is kind of, you know, when you play in Philly, it's, it's tough. They know the fans are tough. I understand it. I love it. But for them to kind of, you know, when you play in Philly, it's, it's tough. They know the fans are tough. I understand it. I love it. Um, but for them to kind of, you know, take a step back and look at Trey and go, Hey, we have this guy for another 10, 11 years. Like, why would we not do this?

Um, and I think that really showed Trey that he's, he's part of this family and we want him to succeed. And, um, you know, as a team, we want him to succeed and be Trey Turner. Cause we know what type of player Trey is going to be. We know what type of player he can be day in and day out. And you guys are seeing that right now. This is the greatness of Trey Turner. And, you know, he's such a guy force in the clubhouse, you know, new team, new organization, learning things, new home, things like that.

It's just it's so great to see him kind of succeed and get it going. Like I said, being able to have the veteran guys that we do have in this clubhouse, it just helps each guy every single day. If it's a young guy, if it's an older guy, having the voice of Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos kind of talk to you each day, it's really good. The camaraderie that we do have, the fun that we do have as a team. Our young guys show up each night too. Bryson Stott, I could go on and on about him. Alec Boehm as well. Brandon Marsh being able to come back this year and be an absolute step for us. Just every guy on our team, it takes each guy. We all look in the mirror every single day.

We all do our job each day and it's been great well bryce you were you were obviously listening to the show the other day when you were driving into the ballpark and i even mentioned to chuck i said chuck you know bryce could be listening right now it's normally his routine and you and you were now did you realize by dedicating the home run to chuck what you what you caused because now every caller wants dedicated home runs it's a national story Chuck's been on TV and radio for the last two days straight this is what you've created with our show in the station Bryce thank you I apologize no it's funny because I was actually gonna call and just like hey what's up guys Chuck appreciate it um but I didn't end up

doing that um but I mean I listen to you guys like i said i do not every day um but as i do go to the ballpark there's days i'll turn it on and um i just enjoy it you know the good and the bad it doesn't i don't just you know sit there and oh hey i'm gonna listen to him today because we're going good or we're going bad i love listening about sports right so being able to hear about what the eagles are doing or the flyers or the sixers or what the fans are thinking or anything i i like to kind of consume myself with that so i can kind of get the feel and the vibe of it so i do know what's going on in eagles camp or i do know what's going on in you know sixers camp uh or flyers or anything just because

i root for all those guys too you know we're kind of all in this together and um i root for those guys i pull for those guys so understanding who made the team who's off the team what's going on um that's why i listen to it you know because i think as a city we all need to pull for all the guys and all the teams and that's what it's all about i want to see you know the sixers win it i want to see the flyers win it i want to see the eagles win it and as much as i want to see us win it so um you know I really enjoy it. We're not always nice when you tune in, though, Bryce, right, between the callers and us.

But, like, that's okay. I don't mind that. That's the way it is. That's the way sports work. That's the way, you know, life works. If you don't like when people talk bad about you or when, you know, you're going through it and people have opinions, then, you know, maybe the sports aren't aren't for you um the

world's you know kind of not fair sometimes that's how it works especially in the in the world of sports and you know i'm not all into second place trophies and all that kind of stuff as you guys probably know um but i just i think i don't know being able to kind of listen to you guys and understand what it's what it's all about um and i laugh at all the fans that call in, too. I think it's hilarious, you know, some of the takes that they have and all them going at Cowboys fans and coming back and forth and talking about just everything. It's just a lot of fun to be able to kind of hear you guys talk about it. Yeah, Ike had the same reaction when he got drafted by the Eagles.

They said, don't listen to WIP. So he listened to WIP, and he's like, this is unbelievable. I love this. This is great. There you go. And now I've been stuck here 17 years since I retired working at WIP. Right. That's right.

Well, Bryce, listen, we appreciate you calling in. Chuck is on the line, and I hate to put you on the spot here, but Chuck wanted to say hi to you. Is that possible? Yeah, it's all good. Chuck from Mount Airy. Chuck, say hi to Bryce Harper. Hey, yo, Bryce, what's up, man?

Hey, Bryce, give me one second, okay? Bryce, you listen to the show. Give me one second, okay? You listen to the show every day, right? Yep, I do. Not every day, but some days. Can I do this for a second? Hey, Johnny Marks, I agree.

Listen to me. Invite Cowboy Jim. Want to know why? Huh? So I can shove my foot up his ass. That's why. No, Chuck. Yo, Bryce, what's up, baby?

How you doing, man? Hey, Chuck, how you doing? Hey, listen, man. I just wanted to come on here, and I honestly wanted to say thank you, man. I said everything I said was from the heart. And I want to say thank you for letting me get on this boat that you just created to ride this wave, man, for me. It's been a great last couple days. And next to my kids being born, this has been the greatest moments of my life, man.

So I appreciate you, man. And I thank you for being a great Philly coming on here and, you know, listening to us and shouting me out, you know, me out of the blue. For real. I appreciate it, Chuck. We're all a family, man. You guys vote for us. We vote for everybody. So I appreciate you so much, and thanks for the words.

Thanks for being kind, and, you know, really appreciate that. Thank you. Hey, no, listen, you're going to get your first ring. Trust me. You're going to get it this year. Trust me. I'm going to be right there on that float with you, buddy. Believe that.

Hey, listen. He's already on the float. All right. All right, Chuck. All right, Chuck. Chill out. Thank you. Sorry about that, Bryce.

It's all good. I love it. I love it. Listen, keep it going. You guys are absolutely killing it right now. You know that this town is behind all of you guys, and it's going to be a special next month, month and a half here, and we're all looking forward to it.

No doubt. Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right, there he is, Bryce Harper.