August 29, 2022
Bryce Harper's rehab assignment lasted all of two nights, but the IronPigs probably won't be forgetting it anytime soon.
Continuing the tradition of rehabbing stars treating their minor league teammates to meals, the NL MVP had the IronPigs covered on Friday and Saturday even after he had already returned to Philadelphia for the weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, per the Allentown Morning Call's Tom Housenick.
On Friday, the IronPigs, and the visiting Gwinnett Stripers, had pregame spreads from Mission BBQ in Whitehall, courtesy of Harper.
Then on Saturday, the IronPigs had dinner covered by the Phillies star at PRIME Steak House in Bethlehem.
Harper was sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley early last week as the final step in his recovery from a broken left thumb.
He originally was expected to take at-bats with the IronPigs through Saturday, but after he crushed two homers in his first rehab game on Tuesday then doubled twice the night after, it was pretty clear to just about everyone that he was ready to come back to the Phillies ahead of schedule, especially with a lowly Pirates team on deck.
Though it was a short stay, it isn't often that one of the biggest names in baseball comes through Allentown, and Lehigh Valley and its fans embraced Harper's brief rehab stint for everything it was.
His temporary IronPigs teammates got a couple good dinners out of it too.
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