It turns out that baseball phenom Bryce Harper is a bookworm with a taste for romance novels.
Harper, the Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter and right fielder who has been named an All-Star player seven times, was 19 when he played his first Major League Baseball game with the Washington Nationals. In 2019, he signed a contract with the Phillies worth $330 million, making him one of the highest-paid athletes in the U.S.
He’s a busy man. But he told GQ that when it’s time to unwind, he doesn’t reach for the remote control.
Asked by reporter Jon Gugala whether he’s “a nighttime Netflix guy,” Harper responded, “I love reading, man. I enjoy it. I like getting lost in the book, being able to wind down.”
Gugala asked Harper what he’s been reading, and the athlete initially demurred, before responding, “Well…I love Elle Kennedy. So you can look that up. I just read The Deal, and The Mistake, and then I’m on…I can’t think of the one I’m on right now.”
The Deal, a romance novel by Canadian author Kennedy, involves a relationship between a college hockey player and a tutor. It’s the first book in her Off-Campus series; The Mistake is the second installment. (So perhaps Harper is on No. 3, The Score, which sounds sexy.)
“I enjoy it,” Harper said. “It helps me wind down. I get lost, so being able to get lost in something else makes you that much better the next day, because you’re getting away from your life and getting away from everything.”
If Harper’s looking for something a little closer to the diamond, the website Goodreads has a list of the “best erotic baseball novels” he could check out. It includes titles such as Switch Hitter, Bases Loaded, and—oh my—Going Deep.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
