Wonder Child

In this his fourth major-league season, Bryce Harper is 22 years, seven months old.  So far this spring, Harper has managed 14 home runs and 37 rbi’s in 133 at-bats; that translates out to 63 homers and 167 rbi’s in 600 at-bats.  MLB.com thinks those numbers should fuel a serious debate over who’s the bigger wunderkind, Harper or the Angels’ Mike Trout.  I just want to know if Harper will stop acting like a jerk.

You reach an age where behavior—the operative part of character—matters.  It’s all about doing unto others.  If Bryce Harper can’t treat the people around him with respect, please keep him off my team.  Over the past two decades, the White Sox have made a number of talent-trumps-everything decisions, netting such human headaches as Albert Belle, Jose Canseco, Carl Everett and Manny Ramirez.  (Lest any Cub fans start laughing, once upon a time they signed renowned wife-beater Milton Bradley.)  I’d like to think the Sox could’ve won a World Series without Everett on the roster.

Sports is no different than art or entertainment in that very talented people can also be deeply flawed; it’s up to the audience to decide when, if ever, actions the result of personality poison the product.  Do no harm; smile a bit across social media; sign a few autographs; show a little humility—that’s all I ask.  The neat thing about Frank Thomas is that he started off a jerk, only to become a decent human being. 

That’s the total package.