Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper struck out during his first at-bat Monday night against the San Francisco Giants.
He was probably a bit distracted. Harper and his wife, Kayla, are expecting their fourth child, and the eight-time All-Star had just learned the gender of the baby … through the color of the custom Victus Sports bat that teammate Trea Turner handed to him for that plate appearance.
It was blue!
Harper, whose family was in attendance for the 10-4 loss in Philadelphia, did not speak with reporters after the game. But Turner did, and the star shortstop explained how the whole thing came about. After receiving two specially ordered bats from Harper — one blue and one pink — Turner then received a text telling him which one to hand to his teammate.
“He asked me earlier today to help him with the gender reveal,” Turner said. “He’s a pretty creative guy. He let us know in our team meeting. He kind of wanted to share the moment with everybody. He was nice enough to ask me to do it, and I thought it was a nice moment for him and his family. I think they were all here watching from up top. Pretty cool. Pretty special.”
The in-game gender reveal was definitely a special moment, although not entirely unique.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves wore pink sneakers in a March 26 road game against the Indiana Pacers to inform his older brother, Spencer, and his wife, Kaci Mack, that they are having a baby girl.
“We didn’t know Austin would be so pumped to do this,” Spencer Reaves wrote. “He’s known for weeks.”
Two days later on Instagram, Spencer Reaves posted a photo of his brother in the pink Rigorer shoes and a photo of himself and his wife holding ultrasound photos.
“Girl Dad Incoming,” he wrote. “Thanks @austinreaves12 for the cool reveal!”
Austin Reaves responded in the comment section with two heart emojis.
Sporting events have been used for live and very public gender reveals before. A pair of Baltimore Ravens fans, who were in attendance at SoFi Stadium on Nov. 25 for their team’s game against the Chargers, learned the gender of their unborn child (a boy!) with the rest of the nation when ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt and the “Monday Night Countdown” crew revealed it live on-air.
At the Paris Olympics last summer, U.S. swimmer Ryan Murphy was just stepping off the podium from receiving a bronze medal in the men’s 100-meter backstroke when he unexpectedly learned the gender of his unborn child. Up in the stands, his wife, Bridget Konttinen, held up a sign that read, “Ryan, it’s a girl!”
“That was a great way to find out,” Murphy said. “That really lit me up and brought this night to another level.”
So are these types of gender reveals at sporting events becoming trendy? It wouldn’t be surprising in a world that always seems to be waiting for another viral moment to come along.
And besides, Turner said, they’re fun.
“I picked up the pink one and swung it around a little bit,” Turner said of his time with Harper in the dugout before the reveal. “He thought he was having a girl, so I had to mess with him a little bit. Sure enough, it was a boy, so I ended up handing him the blue one and he was pretty happy.”
The post Bryce Harper did it. So did Austin Reaves. Are in-game gender reveals becoming a trend? appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
