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Bryce Harper and a Winchester Model 94

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ditchparrot
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Bryce Harper and a Winchester Model 94

Post by ditchparrot » Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:39 pm

This is a pretty good segment from an ESPN story on Harper. I've tried to make things like this happen a couple of times and it hasn't worked out.

THE GUN IS a Winchester Model 94 Golden Spike Commemorative 30-30 rifle, never fired, one of 69,182 produced in 1969. It was given to Ron Harper by his mother, who won it in a promotion through the grocery chain that employed her. Ron kept it in the family's Las Vegas home until Bryce cracked an aluminum bat when he was 13. Bryce had already been identified as a prodigy by then. Superagent Scott Boras was less than a year from riding into town to marvel at the kid's forearms in person. Bryce was two years from hitting a 570-foot home run as a high school freshman.

But at this point, Bryce was also a seventh-grader with a broken bat and a tournament to play. Ron was an ironworker without much work, so he carried that Golden Spike across the street to see if his neighbor Cal, a gun collector, might want to buy it.

"As an ironworker, things get slow and you sell things," Ron says. "A car, or whatever, to pay a bill."

"Living paycheck to paycheck," says Bryce's mom, Sheri. "And $350 for a bat? That was hard."

Cal bought the gun for $500. "It paid a bill and bought a bat," Ron says. "That's a good day."

The Harpers moved soon after, and the gun was mostly forgotten. This past winter, though, Bryce's sister, Brittany, had the idea to track down the gun and give it to Ron for Christmas. They had no idea whether Cal was still in the old neighborhood, or whether he still had the gun.

Bryce and his brother, Bryan, went to Cal's old house. Cal answered the door, and Cal's wife went a little nuts. "Oh my god," she yelled. "Bryce Harper's on my porch!" Bryce and Bryan told the story of the grocery checker and the cracked bat and the unpaid bill and asked Cal if there was a chance he might sell the gun back to them.

Cal brought them in, handed them the gun and said, "This belongs with your pops. I bought it for $500, I'll sell it back to you for $500." Bryce insisted on $1,000, and Cal ultimately relented.

On Christmas morning, after all the gifts had been opened, the three Harper siblings handed Ron one more.

"Holy cow, where did you find one?" he asked.

"No, Pops," Bryce said. "That's yours. We went to Cal and got it back."

Neither Sheri nor Ron can tell the story without breaking down. They're standing on the infield in front of the first-base dugout at Spectrum Field, the Phillies' spring training stadium, after the news conference to announce their son's record contract. They're wiping away tears.

"I'd like to think he got some of his commitment from us," Sheri says.

"That's what leads you to stuff like this," Ron says.
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PT7
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Re: Bryce Harper and a Winchester Model 94

Post by PT7 » Mon Mar 25, 2019 9:05 pm

Thanks for sharing a very meaningful story. :)

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Re: Bryce Harper and a Winchester Model 94

Post by ESquared » Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:19 pm

Wow, what a touching tale. Thanks so much for that re-telling.
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Re: Bryce Harper and a Winchester Model 94

Post by Redthies » Thu Mar 28, 2019 12:31 am

Great story. Who is Bryce Harper?
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