In Photos: Bryce Harper & teammates sport special hats during game, marking mascot Phanatic's birthday celebration
Over the years, Bryce Harper, who signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2019, has embraced the love that comes with it.
More so, he also celebrates the Phillies mascot, Phanatic, a lot, as he every now and then dons gear resembling the mascot on the field.
So when it was Phanatic's birthday, he and his Phillies teammates wore a special hat that had an image of the mascot instead of the Phillies logo.t
Although Wikipedia mentions April 25 as the date when Phanatic was introduced, the Phillies celebrated the occasion on April 21 at Citizens Bank Park. On a side note, on April 25, the Phillies will be on the road so maybe they wanted to celebrate at home.
The Philadelphia Phillies uploaded pictures of their customized hats on Instagram:
To celebrate the Phillie Phanatic, this year's batting practice cap has this logo, and only on April 21 did they decide to wear it in a regular-season game.
In a separate video released from the Philadelphia Phillies Twitter handle, Bryce Harper surprised the Phillie Phanatic with a surprise gift.
The gift box had a customized baseball glove specially designed for the Phanatic, who was seemingly joyous on receiving it.
Bryce Harper & Co. celebrates Phanatic's birthday with a special cake
Before Sunday's game against the Chicago White Sox, thousands of Phillies fans joined in the birthday party of the Phanatic at Citizens Bank Park. That also included mascots from several universities and professional sports teams.
To make the event more special, Andrew Gana of the Yardley store prepared three Phillie Phanatic-inspired custom cakes to celebrate Phanatic's birthday. She spent countless hours making it.
"I wanted to do the foods that you eat at a baseball game, so I did everything jumbo sized, so I did a big thing of popcorn and the ice cream out of the baseball hat," Gana said [CBS News].
To top off the celebrations, the Phillies won the game against the Chicago White Sox 8-2. Bryce Harper had two RBIs in the victory.