Watch Bryce Harper crush a grand slam for his 100th career home run
Bryce Harper does not go halfway on anything, so it's only fitting that he hit the 100th home run of his baseball career in style. Harper hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning of Thursday's 6-2 win over the Braves.
Harper is the eighth-youngest player to reach 100 home runs in MLB history at 23 years and 181 days old. According to Baseball Reference, Mel Ott was the youngest player to reach the milestone, as he hit No. 100 at 22 years and 132 days old. Tony Conigliaro was the youngest American League player to reach 100 career home runs when he accomplished the feat at 22 years, 197 days old.
Harper was recently using a decal of the 100 emoji on his bat, but he removed it from his bat Thursday. If Harper is at all superstitious, it could be a long time before we see a decal on his bat again.
Bryce is keeping it 0️⃣ today pic.twitter.com/YjkYDQsmsF
— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) April 14, 2016
"In every sport, guys (that) are considered the great ones, Michael Jordan, Gretzky, Jim Brown, Joe Montana, they have a flair for the dramatic," manager Dusty Baker said. "And I told him when he hit that home run, 'Man, you've got a flair for the dramatic.'"
Harper said the benchmark hadn't weighed on his mind.
"I think if you're worried about 100, you don't want any higher than that," Harper said.
The Braves and Twins, who fell to 0-9 earlier Thursday, are the first major league teams to lose nine in a row to start a season since Detroit in 2003, according to STATS. Atlanta's worst start came in 1988, when it went 0-10.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
