Bryce Harper’s Epic 502-Foot Homer: Scott Walker located a nearby field to conduct batting practice with his son under the Florida afternoon sun, hoping to maintain his swing’s vigor after his son advanced to the final round of an adolescent home run derby earlier that morning.
January 2009 saw the gathering of the International Power Showcase, an occasion that brought together the most exceptional high school sluggers in the country at the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium. Christian Walker, a senior at Kennedy-Kenrick High School in Norristown at the time, was accompanied by several future major leaguers and Division I prospects. There was, however, one child at the exhibition whom everyone was drawn to.
“It was basically Bryce Harper’s tournament to win,” said Tommy Joseph, who competed as a 17-year-old from Arizona and later played for the Phillies. “Everyone else just got to have a front-row seat.”
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Scott Walker located a nearby field to conduct batting practice with his son under the Florida afternoon sun, hoping to maintain his swing’s vigor after his son advanced to the final round of an adolescent home run derby earlier that morning.
January 2009 saw the gathering of the International Power Showcase, an occasion that brought together the most exceptional high school sluggers in the country at the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium. Christian Walker, a senior at Kennedy-Kenrick High School in Norristown at the time, was accompanied by several future major leaguers and Division I prospects. There was, however, one child at the exhibition whom everyone was drawn to.
“It was basically Bryce Harper’s tournament to win,” said Tommy Joseph, who competed as a 17-year-old from Arizona and later played for the Phillies. “Everyone else just got to have a front-row seat.”
Scott Walker would have cherished his son’s return to Philadelphia to face Harper and the Phillies in the National League Championship Series. Walker passed away nine months prior to his son’s 2017 trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he developed into one of the best first basemen in baseball. Walker, who lead the Arizona Cardinals in home runs with 33 this season and slugged a.497 percentage, was in contention for a second consecutive Gold Glove Award.
Early on, Walker’s father recognized that his son had received a vaccination. He was accurate. Christian Walker and his father discussed this baseball aspiration, and he now cherishes the memories they created together, such as the occasion his father threw him fastballs as they awaited Harper’s arrival.
“This would have been everything to him,” said Tom Sergio, who coached Kennedy-Kenrick before the school closed in 2010. “He spent Christian’s entire young career just grooming Christian, taking him to all the right showcases, putting him in front of all the right people. Keeping him on track, keeping him practicing, keeping him working hard, and basically preparing him for what he’s doing now.”
Walker, 32, is a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles supporter who distinctly recalls his father catching a batting-practice home run hit by Dante Bichette at Veterans Stadium. During his high school years, he adorned the background of his mobile phone with an image of the 2008 World Series clincher. There were acquaintances of his who avoided classes in order to attend the Broad Street parade, as he adored Ryan Howard.
Now, four victories away from qualifying for the World Series, he fulfills a youthful ambition by returning home. His father is present.
“I think about him constantly,” Walker said. “Just in general in my career over the last handful of years and getting this opportunity, I spent a good amount of time in the minor leagues, and the big league success was unclear for a while. I do think about him constantly. I think he would love this more than anybody.”
“Just another layer of motivation, another layer of digging deep and just making it all worth it. I know he is proud looking down and all that. It’s cool to be back in the area. I think my family feels that. It’s cool to share this moment with them.”
Walker was drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft by Arizona after winning two national championships at South Carolina. However, prior to that, he was passed over by three organizations. He was granted three waivers within the course of one month. It was five years after his major league debut in 2014 with Baltimore that he was not a regular. Walker duly remitted his contributions while pursuing his ascent to the summit. Additionally, his father constructed the foundation.
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“We’d get done with practice or a game and the team would go their separate way and I’d be driving home,” Sergio said. “I’d be driving by some back-alley, simple baseball field and Christian would be getting ground balls from his dad or BP from his dad. Scott saw something special in him.
“They both worked extremely hard at a time when they didn’t have to. At a time when he could’ve just been having fun and chasing girls. They were off at some patch of dirt, patch of grass, anywhere in the county, getting extra work in.”
In the derby, every participant was allotted 10 outs using a wooden bat and 15 outs using an aluminum bat. Harper began slowly with his aluminum bat and failed to hit a home run prior to recording ten outs with his wooden bat. Before he decided to fly to Florida, the batters were teed off on pitching machines, which nearly prevented him from attending the event. Moreover, he was now floundering.
Harper returned to his task after exiting the box and nodding to his father in the audience.
“He got back in the box and it was a completely different possessed, relentless, competitive person got back into the box,” said Brian Domenico, who organized the event. “It was like ‘Screwing around is over now.’ It was wild.”
“When you get the list, you find where your name is, and then you go find where Bryce was hitting,” Joseph explained. The remaining participants were all on the field, patiently awaiting the performance for which they had come. Harper needed to triumph over Walker, Bo Bichette, and Randal Grichuk, all of whom were forthcoming major leaguers, in the championship round. The swing of Walker was poised.
“That was super cool,” Walker said. “That was one of the first times getting recognized for me on more of a national level. Most of it was because of the hype around Harp. Him and I have been competing against each other for a while. I feel like we were always somehow crossing paths in travel tournaments and stuff, and then the home run derby. So we’ve been in some similar circles for a while now. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Any time I can compete against a guy like Bryce and challenge myself against the best talent there is, it’s an opportunity.”
The Walkers emerged from Florida with the championship, having eliminated the opponent who was universally favored to prevail. Harper appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated five months later, and the 502-foot home run that escaped his bat propelled him to the major leagues in record time.
Walker was required to be patient. However, he discovered his niche in Arizona, developed into the player his father predicted he would be, and then returned home to confront Harper once more. Walker stated that his father would have reached “the peak” at this point. Such a recollection would have been comparable to the home run contest they participated in in Florida. And he continues to bear the lesson that his father imparted.
“What he gave me is ‘What’s the next thing?’” Walker said. “In a good way, ‘Yeah, cool. Let’s appreciate it. I’m proud of you. Look at what your hard work has done. But what’s next? We’re still going up to the field tomorrow at 3 o’clock and we’re going to take our swings and field our grounders. I definitely still have that.”
