Third baseman Brett Harper denies that he’s trying to start a fashion trend, but the hot-hitting Arizonan is never — no, really, NEVER — seen without two black patches under his eyes.
It’s called “eye black.” Once an ashy powder that players spread under their eyes to lessen the glare of the sun as it bounced off their cheeks, eye black now consists of Band-Aid-like patches that are easy to apply and never run.
No Cyclone has ever been as fond of eye black as Harper, so there was initial suspicion among the press corps that perhaps Harper had a rare skin condition that necessitated maximum glare reduction. But recently, Harper revealed to The Brooklyn Papers the true reason for his addiction to eye black.
“It just looks cool,” he said.
But Brett Harper has a lot more going for him than just being a fashion trend-setter. One of the few offensive bright spots on the team so far, Harper is the son of longtime major leaguer Brian Harper, a lifetime .300 hitter in his 16 major-league seasons and a member of the 1991 World Series-champion Minnesota Twins.
Harper, who now manages the Anaheim Angels’ rookie-league team, was on hand for the Cyclones’ first two games and saw his son go 4-9 with 4 RBIs. The minor-leaguer said having his major-league dad around caused no stress.
“There’s never any pressure with him,” Brett Harper said. “He’s never been negative towards me or my playing. He’s been there as a player. He knows that you can’t get a hit every time up. No one’s ever done that.”
Brett said he remembered watching his father as a child and “making a note of everything: how he swung on certain counts, what he did with certain pitches, everything. I didn’t even ask too many questions, just watched. He’s helped me so much over the years.”
By the Numbers
They say that pitching wins ballgames, but during a four-game stretch last week, the Cyclones proved that hitting is a little more important sometimes. During those 43 innings — starting with Thursday’s loss to the hated Staten Island Yankees and extending to Sunday night’s extra-inning heartbreaker with the Aberdeen Iron Birds — Cyclone pitchers racked up 53 strikeouts while yielding only seven walks. Yet the team lost three of those four games.
“It is frustrating, of course, but at this level, the pitchers are learning that there are things they can control — making the pitches, fielding their position, keeping their team in the game — and things they can’t,” said Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch on Tuesday night. “So a stretch like that teaches them how to be persistent and do their job, which is the most important thing.”
On the mend
It’s not all fun and it’s definitely not all games for some Cyclones. Tyler Davidson, an eighth-round pick out of the University of Washington, hadn’t even gotten his first Cyclone at-bat before injuring himself in batting practice last week. Now he’s the guy riding the pine with a thin, Rollerblade-style brace on his left wrist. At this level of the minors, you don’t get an MRI unless something doesn’t heal, so Davidson just has to wait and see.
“This does suck, I must admit,” he said. “I got injured before I even had a chance to play.”
Meanwhile, Cyclones holdover Tyler Beuerlein, who had yet to play a game because of his injured right elbow, returned in fine fashion, going 2-4 in Monday night’s 7-0 destruction of the New Jersey Cardinals. He told The Brooklyn Papers that he’ll be back on the field next week, a few weeks ahead of schedule.
July 1, 2002 issue
