Bryce Harper on Being Teammates With the Pitcher Who Nearly Altered His Career

Bryce Harper joined the popular Bussin' With the Boys podcast with former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton over Super Bowl weekend and the interview was released Tuesday.

Among other things, Harper looked back at the most frightening moment of his baseball career, when he was drilled in the face by a 97 mph from St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Genesis Cabrera in April 2021.

Somehow, Harper escaped the incident without major injury and not only continued to play but won his second National League MVP award that season, only continuing his Hall of Fame pace since.

What made the situation even more unique was Harper's reaction. He didn't charge the mound, he didn't fume, he didn't rip Cabrera. Instead, he reached out to then-Cardinals manager Mike Shildt to tell Cabrera not to sweat it.

Six months later, the St. Louis Sports Commission honored Harper with the Musial Award in recognition of exceptional sportsmanship, named, of course, after Cardinals legend Stan Musial.

Harper didn't bring up the hit-by-pitch unprompted in the interview released Tuesday, he told Lewan and Compton the story in response to the two joking about how being hit by a baseball scares them more than being blasted by a middle linebacker or fullback.

"I mean, I got hit in the face, shoot, four years ago with 98, just bang," Harper said. "It was probably the scariest moment on a baseball field I've ever had, and it took me a minute to come back.

"I went to the ground and I pressed on my face as hard as I could just to see if it was broken and it wasn't. ... I've seen guys get hit before and their face is just gone, surgery here, surgery there. I had nothing."

The pitch also ricocheted off Harper's face and struck him in the left wrist. Still, he returned to the Phillies' lineup four games later.

Cabrera had made 42 big-league appearances before that night against the Phillies. He lasted another year and a half with the Cardinals and has bounced around to five different organizations since.

Six, if you include his non-roster invite to spring training this year with the Phillies. Yes, Cabrera could be a teammate of Harper's in 2026 if he makes the team out of camp. The hard-throwing lefty is battling with about a dozen other relievers for one or two jobs in the Phillies' bullpen (assuming health).

"I texted their manager at the time and was like hey, tell him don't worry about it, I don't want this to ruin him or mentally mess him up," Harper said. "I really felt bad for him at the time. Obviously, it sucked getting hit in the face but I was kind've worried about him because I didn't want that to determine the rest of his career. The problem was, too, that he smoked the next guy. The game just sped up on him on a little bit and got kinda crazy for him.

"He's still pitching now, he's actually with the Phillies now. We just signed him to a minor-league deal."

Harper joked that when he saw him, he'd say, "My eye's still here, man."

It's a blessing for Harper and the Phillies that he can laugh about the ordeal four years later. In the moment, it was fair to wonder if he'd be the same moving forward.

The most famous example of a player's career derailing from being hit in the face was Red Sox star Tony Conigliaro in 1967. Just 22 years old then, Conigliaro had already made a name for himself by leading the American League with 32 home runs as a 20-year-old. The beaning left him with retina damage, a fractured cheekbone and dislocated jaw. He had one more big year in 1970 but that was it.

"I definitely had a guardian angel over me," Harper said.

All he's done since is win an MVP and three Silver Slugger awards, make two All-Star teams and hit .287 with a .914 OPS.