Bryce Harper All-Star Complex Dedication for RHLL

My posts are few and far between these days (years) but we had an exciting week while the National's were hosting the MLB All-Star Game that included the dedication of the Bryce Harper All-Star Complex for our Reston Herndon Little League.  There have been several great articles and tons of amazing pictures from the event that Tim put so much time and energy into, so I wanted to capture them all in one place, hence this post.

While RHLL is mostly just the beneficiary of this awesome project, I do want to document that Tim was the catalyst in our fields being chosen!  Right after taking over as President of the League, Tim called the Fairfax County Fields Supervisor to introduce himself, they started chatting and Tim mentioned that he was an alum of the league.  It turns out that the County Supervisor sat on the RHLL board when Tim Sr was the Vice President and Tim was a player!  The Supervisor was so excited that an alum was now the President, and told Tim, "We have this great opportunity with MLB, we were debating between Crabtree and another field, but now I think we'll go ahead and set it up for Crabtree!"

Here's an article explaining the All-Star Legacy Initiative Projects.

The main improvements for our project include new dugouts, covered stands, fencing, infields, scoreboards, batting cages, and over all refreshing of the rest of the facility.  These renovations also had a snowball affect for our leagues other fields, with new batting cages and scoreboards coming at Crabtree, the existing ones were able to be reused at other fields!

The announcement was made that the fields would be named after Bryce Harper and that he would be at the ribbon cutting.  It turns out that he personally contributed towards the renovations.  Prior to the event Tim was told that Harper would arrive, say a few words, cut a ribbon, throw a pitch, take a group picture, and go.  Tim was also cautioned that there wouldn't be any autograph signing.  Bryce did so much more then what was expected, staying at the fields for at least an hour, and he signed at least three autographs, one for Timmy.

The MLB write up is fantastic, and you can see Timmy and Tyler in the video a few times if you're watching close!  Timmy is in the cover image, holding the ribbon on the far left in the blue camo jersey.  The highlight of Bryce's speech, for me, was, "Growing up, that was one thing that I really enjoyed -- going to the field with my dad," Harper said, choking up and fighting back tears. "Going to the park with your dad and having mom yelling and screaming in the stands, there's nothing better than that."  He was so choked up that he had to pause for a moment before continuing his speech.

Bryce also talked about only playing because you enjoy it, and to enjoy other activities too.  The video in this article let's you hear that part of his speech at the end of the clip.  Interesting to me was that he included dancing, singing, or playing piano in the activities that he listed off.

A very exciting part of his speech came while talking about the National's current Manager, Dave Martinez, stating, "Martinez is the best manager I've ever had, his door is always open, and I hope to play for him for the next 10-12 years!"  Since he is about to enter free agency, this statement was met with many applause!  It quickly made it's way around social media too!

After the speeches they brought out a ribbon, which Timmy and Collin got to hold the ends of!  After cutting the ribbon, Bryce autographed their pieces of the ribbon for them!  

Next was the Ceremonial first pitch, and he signed the ball for the player who got to catch it.

Then the kids and Bryce all made their way out to the score board for pictures, he posed with them in age groups and gave out lots of high 5's!

Bryce also brought his very patriotic Home Run Derby cleats with him and showed them off to a group of kids.

As Harper was leaving, an older player was walking near him and asked for an autograph, Bryce's handler said no, so instead, Bryce took off the jersey he was wearing and gave it to the kid!  Teddy and Screech showed up as soon as Harper left, and then some combined age All-Star teams played a game to break in the new fields, our National League vs. American League.  Timmy was one of the players.

We took a few more pictures around the facility when the game was over.

That evening was the Home Run Derby which Bryce went on to win, and we were there to cheer him on!  It was such an exciting day!

 

We also went to Fan Fest (the boys went twice!) where we got to see the Home Run Derby Trophy up close, and went to the Futures and Celebrity Games, and Tim, Tim Sr, and the boys went to the All Star Game too!  It was an amazing week!

Notice: Tyler rocked the head band before Harper!