What does Mormon Baseball Phenom Bryce Harper Drink to Celebrate?

The Washington Nationals won their National League Division, and Bryce Harper was interviewed after the game on MLB Network. He was asked what he was using to celebrate in the clubhouse while the rest of the team was using champagne.

His answer? Apple cider.

Why? It wasn’t because he is only 19. Harper is an active Mormon, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormons are taught about the “Word of Wisdom” from the time they are very young, which was given in 1833 as a health code.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, you have to admire and respect a 19-year-old young man who has the personal fortitude to make a choice about his standards and not deviate from it.

Harper is to be commended, not only for his incredible skills as a baseball player, but also for his maturity and ability to handle the pressures that have destroyed other rookies.

Author Rob Miech spent time with Harper during his only year as a college ball player, after leaving high school a year early. Miech wrote a book about Harper, “The Last Natural: Bryce Harper’s Big Gamble in Sin City and the Greatest Amateur Season Ever.”

Many young Mormon men Harper’s age devote two years of their lives to serve as a missionary. Miech quotes Harper about the subject as saying:  “I feel I can be a walking Book of Mormon and help people on the baseball field and off it.”

During his college baseball career Harper is said to have inscribed various scriptures on his bat, including Samuel 22:33-34 from the Old Testament, which reads: “God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.”

If Harper wanted to relax his standards he could easily do so. While in Toronto for games there a reporter asked him if he planned to take advantage of the lower drinking age and have a beer to celebrate the game. Harper’s response?

“That’s a clown question, bro.”

Baseball players and fans are watching this phenom as he performs on the field, and millions of Mormon boys are watching as Harper shows them that they can pursue athletics and fame without giving in to the temptations of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

He is indeed a walking Book of Mormon helping people on the field and off.