Philly On The World Stage: Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber Making History In HR Derby

PHILADELPHIA, PA — In 2076, when the tideline of the Delaware is breaching Pattison Avenue, when a roof has been thrown over the Bank to protect it from solar storms and basketball-sized hail, when Major League Baseball has teams everywhere from Gambia to Georgia to Guyana, when Andrew Painter has finally figured it out in Lehigh Valley, there may be a more triumphant moment for Phillies baseball than there is right now.

But will there ever be another duo in red pinstripes like Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber?

Assuming a resilient enough future for planet earth, the All Star game will probably return to Philly for the three hundredth birthday of the United States. Maybe the Bank will be a baseball cathedral alongside Wrigley and Yankee stadium by then, like John Middleton hopes. The Phillies will be closing in on their own two hundredth birthday and doubtlessly will be widely celebrated for their heritage. But one thing of which there is absolutely zero guarantee is any sort of analogous collection of stars wearing a red or maroon P on their chest as there are in 2026.

Ricky Bo, The '96 All Star Game, And The Phillies Flight From The Dark Ages

Tuesday night's All Star Game and Monday's Home Run Derby are both hosted at Citizens Bank Park this year. It's the first time the Phillies have hosted All Star events since 1996.

The game, the derby, and all the attendant fanfare are dismissed by many, perhaps fairly, as just another corporate product of a big money industry. But as the league's showcase of the world's premier talents, a showcase watched by fans of all 30 teams, fans from all over the globe, it inevitably helps establish the sport's icons. From players and personalities to fans, teams, and cities at large. It gives taste and texture to the sport whether we want it to or not.

And for the Phillies, the sasquatch century, or semitruck millennial, or whatever the exact name is being ascribed to this summer's celebrations, 2026 could not have come at a better time.

Cristopher Sanchez will be the starting pitcher for the National League in Tuesday night's game. He's the first Phillies pitcher to start the game since the legendary Roy Halladay in 2011. Schwarber will lead off. Brandon Marsh is starting in right field. Harper will come off the bench, but he earned the start with his first half play. Jesus Luzardo and Jhoan Duran are in the bullpen. Arguably the greatest pitcher on earth, Zack Wheeler, isn't even on the roster.

And both Harper and Schwarber will compete in the Home Run Derby, set for 7 p.m. Monday night. It's the first time two Phillies will ever compete in the derby together.

Up until this year, only seven Phillies had ever competed in the competition in its 40-year history: Jim Thome in 2004, Bobby Abreu in 2005, Ryan Howard in 2006, 2007, and 2009, Chase Utley in 2008, and Rhys Hoskins in 2018. Abreu and Howard won it. This is the first time in eight years the Phillies have a stake in the contest.

Schwarber and Harper have both competed before: Schwarber in 2018 and Harper in 2013 and when he won it all in 2018.

Being selected for the Derby is a rare honor. Some high profile sluggers have a short shelf life, so they may only really be in the running for selection for a few years at the peak of their career. Most of the greats compete at least once, but often not more than that as they worry about injuries and want to take advantage of rest on the off days.

Schwarber and Harper are both in their early thirties, both are proven superstars, both on a Hall of Fame track. They've both competed in the derby before. They certainly have nothing to prove. And it would be completely understandable for a pair of older players in the midst of a pennant race to take advantage of a true day of rest.

Yet beyond whatever personal enjoyment they may get from jacking taters out into Delco airspace, it seems as though they also have a hyperawareness of the moment. To put a show on before the Philly crowd, on their home grass, just as they've helped position the Phillies for yet a fifth straight postseason run at a World Series title. It's gift, and perhaps part of a shift, inching the Phillies to the tier of the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, and Red Sox level of baseball royalty. Of course there is no fulcrum like Red October, but the national capital of pessimism should revel in another sign of the times.