The many spring hairstyles of Bryce Harper (2024)

Had I told you that Bryce Harper would be beginning his sixth spring training with the Phillies, would you have believed it?

Seems like just yesterday that we were all sitting around at work when Jon Heyman tweeted those magic words that brought out euphoria through the fanbase.

Since that day, it’s been a right of passage to see not only Harper make his way to Clearwater, but the entire team. We like to believe that as the team is holding their workouts in Florida under the warm sun, playing on green grass, that time will all of a sudden speed up around us, that the temperatures will rise, life will return to the living things around us all and that baseball will be soon on our TVs, entertaining us on a daily basis.

But as the curtain rises on Clearwater, we enter into an annual rite of passage where we ask a question that has as much meaning as any roster question the team faces:

What will Harper’s hair look like during this spring training?

There is a difference each year in how Harper choose to present himself to the fanbase sans cap. Since the intensity of the regular season is not yet upon, he, like his teammates, will often go through workouts without wearing the regular head attire that completes the Phillies uniform. Had I a head of hair similar to Harper or any number of Phillies, I too would make sure as many people as possible witness the luscious mane that cascaded down my shoulders.

Yet it’s always a mystery. Five previous spring trainings, five previous Harper hairstyles. It’s got people buzzing. Why just yesterday, I was walking down the street when I overheard two people discussing the different way Harper would style his hair this year. In anticipation of what might still come to fruition, let’s travel back and look at the ever changing hairstyles Harper has donned when he arrives in Clearwater.

2019

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Simple, easy, basic haircut. Harper knew that a good first impression was needed on a fanbase like the one the Phillies have, so he came in clean and ready to go. No angering the older generation with some sort of hippie haircut. Just a nice crisp part like Desi Arnaz.

2020

Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

**ATTENTION***

WE HAVE A MANBUN. REPEAT: WE HAVE A MANBUN.

Personally, I am jealous of anyone that can grow hair at length. When you’ve had three kids, you know that your hair is either going to a) go gray quickly, or b) fall out just as quickly. Knowing this is your fate, if you can grow it out, by all means - let it grow out. There might even be days when you don’t want to do it up style, so you just let it go naturally, cascading down your shoulders like water flows down a mountain.

Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Of course, after this, Covid hit and no one was cutting hair anyway. Barber shops closed, stylists were cutting hair in driveways, so maybe Bryce knew this was about to hit the world and was simply getting ahead of the fashion curve.

Can’t really blame him.

2021

Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

Ah, the post Covid haircut.

2022

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

There are extremes, like growing your hair as long as possible while still maintaining that classicly handsome look and there is the opposite.

Buzzing your head is what happens when you just don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want to say it’s the lazy way out.....but it’s the lazy way out. Still, if you’re going to do it, you had better know you’re going to look good.

Bryce knew he would still look good.

2023

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

We didn’t see much of Bryce’s hair during spring training last year since he was still rehabbing his elbow surgery and wasn’t on the field. What we did see was peeks of medium length poking out under his cap. When you’re worried about the health and stability of a major body part, the stylistic happenings of your hair take a back seat.

2024

So what will this spring bring? What kind of style will Harper be rocking when the time comes for players to finally report? Here are some options.

Brandon Harper

While Harper may not have the beard that can rival the length of what Marsh is toting around, there’s no reason they cannot be rivals when it comes to what’s poking out underneath their cap.

Alec Harper

Listen, if you’ve got some new friends in the infield known for their curling, flowing locks, it doesn’t hurt to shoot for the same. MLB, like the NFL, is a copycat league. Nothing wrong with phasing in some time with the curling iron.

Telly Savalas Harper

A thing of nightmares, conceived by H.G. Wells.

So, once we have position players descend on Clearwater, we’ll be able to see what Harper has in store for his fanbase this season. I can’t wait (to be jealous once again....).

*Photoshopped Bryce pictures courtesy of John Foley