For Bryce Harper, a Philly survival guide presented by Pete Rose

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Pete Rose heard that Bryce Harper wanted to meet him.

It was 2015, and Harper was having the best offensive season of the post-steroid era, one in which he would be crowned MVP of the National League. In a stroke of serendipity, Rose happened to be visiting Cincinnati, his native city, at the same time the Washington Nationals were in town to play the Reds. This, he figured, would be his chance.

“So I went down to the ballpark and around to the visitors’ clubhouse,” Rose said by phone this week. “But he was out on the field taking batting practice, and I couldn’t meet him.”

Four years later, Rose and Harper still haven’t been introduced, even though they both live in Las Vegas and have a mutual admiration. Harper, who appreciates baseball history, lists Rose as one of his idols, an opinion formed by the stories he’s heard from his father; Rose believes Harper is among the top handful of players in the game today.

But now that Harper has signed a record-setting, 13-year, $330 million deal with the Phillies, meeting Rose is almost an imperative. Because 40 years ago, Rose was Harper, the superstar free agent who got big bucks to come to Philadelphia and deliver a World Series championship.

And if anyone is qualified to brace Bryce for what to expect from his new city, it’s most certainly “Charlie Hustle.”

“I always respected Bryce Harper because the guy’s a good player,” Rose said. “The guy was a good player when he was 10 and a better player when he was 15, and now he’s a better, better player and he’s [26]. There’s pressure on a guy like that. Not pressure to hit 40 home runs. He’ll hit the home runs. He’ll knock in runs. He’ll play defense. There’s pressure on a guy like that to win.”

Rose had already won two World Series with Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine when he chose the Phillies’ four-year, $3.24 million offer over more attractive deals from the St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals and Atlanta Braves, among others in the 1978-79 offseason. He was 37 and had more than 3,100 career hits. He was, even by then, an all-time great.

But Rose was also viewed as the player who could put the Phillies over the top after their three consecutive seasons of losing in the NL Championship Series. And in the 30 days after Rose signed, the Phillies sold $3 million worth of tickets, according to the book written by former team president Bill Giles.

Harper is younger and therefore less accomplished, but he brings similar star power. The Phillies sold 220,000 tickets in three days after signing Harper, including 100,000 on the afternoon that he agreed to a contract, according to Phillies senior vice president of ticket operations John Weber. In the 24 hours after Harper’s deal became official, his No. 3 jersey was the best seller of any jersey launch in any sport, Fanatics announced.

Rose, 77 and banned from baseball for the past 30 years for betting on games when he managed the Reds, said he watches most of Harper’s games on television. He admires Harper’s power and marvels at the violence of his swing, even with two strikes.

“He don’t cut down on that swing at all,” Rose said. “I don't understand how a guy can hit .330 [in 2015] and continue to swing the bat like he does.”

In 1979, Rose hit .331 with 208 hits and a league-leading .418 on-base percentage. But the Phillies finished in fourth place, and manager Danny Ozark got fired midway through the season. A year later, Rose helped the Phillies to their first World Series championship. They won the pennant again in 1983, his final year with the team.

Rose understands, then, that Phillies fans are notoriously demanding. The thunderous ovation that Harper will receive on opening day at Citizens Bank Park will dissipate quickly if he doesn’t put up big numbers and the team doesn’t win.

“My advice to Harper is this: Don’t ever give the people of Philly a chance to get on you. What I mean by that is hustle,” Rose said. “Play hard, and they will never bother you. I had it figured this way: Philly fans want two things. They want to win, which they should, and they want you to bust your ass, which every player should want to do. I think once you’re there for a while, you learn that.

“I don’t ever remember Philadelphia getting on a guy or booing a guy out of town that was a guy that played hard. They just don’t do it. They’re good fans. They’re passionate fans. I don’t give a [bleep] how much money Bryce Harper makes. It’s hard for a fan to boo a guy that’s busting his ass.”

Harper is known mostly for playing hard, crashing into enough outfield walls that Rose once called him “reckless.” But Harper also has had a few lapses, famously getting into a physical altercation in the dugout with then-Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon late in the 2015 season for not running out a fly ball.

“That woke Bryce up,” said Rose. “He hasn’t had that kind of situation since, and he probably won’t. I don’t think anyone has to worry one iota about Bryce Harper not playing hard this year for the Phillies.”

Rose said “it worries me some” that the Nationals never won a series in four trips to the playoffs with Harper. But he still lists Harper, Mike Trout, and Mookie Betts as the best players in the game. Rose also believes Harper is surrounded by enough talent — notably slugger Rhys Hoskins, ace Aaron Nola, and offseason additions Andrew McCutchen, Jean Segura, and J.T. Realmuto — that he said he “can’t wait to get back to Vegas and bet on the Phillies.”

“All Bryce Harper's got to do is go in there, do his job, and hope he lifts other people to do better than they can do,” Rose said. “Great players make other players better, and I suspect that Bryce Harper will make a lot of Philadelphia Phillie players better players. And that’s all the Phillies fans can ask from him.”

But will that be enough for fans who haven’t seen winning baseball since 2011?

Rose laughs at the question. Maybe he and Harper can discuss it someday.