Bryce Harper wants to spend his entire career in Washington

Sounds legit to me. Adam Kilgore via the Washington Post:

About three weeks ago, Harper talked to teammate Ryan Zimmerman about playing in the same city for the duration of his career. Zimmerman, who grew up in Virginia, signed a contract extension this offseason that ensures he will stay in Washington through at least 2019. Harper told him he wanted the same thing in his career.

“You look at Cal Ripken. You look at Derek Jeter. You look at all the greats that played for one team their whole career,” Harper said last weekend, sitting in the dugout at Camden Yards in Baltimore. “I want to be like that. I’ve always wanted to be like that. I’ve always wanted to play with that same team.”

As a baseball fan, this is just good news.

We also learn where Harper lives (in a top-story apartment in Pentagon City), where he eats breakfast (Ted’s Bulletin and Barracks Row), he doesn’t drink, and what teammates he prefers to hang with.

There’s also this great quote, on drinking alcohol:

“That stuff has never appealed to me,” he said. “It’s never appealed to me to go out and get hammered or anything like that. That’s never been my nature. I want to take care of my body. I want my body to be strong all the time. I don’t want to be fatigued. I don’t want to drink and have my liver collapse. I want to play for a long time, and I want to be strong for a long time.

“I’ve always said my body is a temple. I take care of it. I don’t want anything to go inside of it that’s going to destroy it or anything like that. I always tell my parents I’d never do anything like that. I’m going to keep strong on that. There’s a lot of people that say, ‘Ah, no you won’t, no you won’t.’ But I’ve always told myself I would.”

He said he also feels certain obligations.

“I’m not going to be a clown and go out, do anything like that,” Harper said. “I want to respect this town. I want to respect the people in this town. I want this town to know, Harper is going to give this town his best every single day. He’s not going to play hung over. He’s not going to do anything like that. He’s going to be the real deal. He’s not going to do any stupid things that destroys his career. I really want to give my best every day. If I don’t do those things, that’s not what’s going to happen.”

Awesome.