100 grand: Harper slugs slam for milestone

WASHINGTON -- Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper loves big-stage situations. It happened to be Harper's mother's birthday Thursday, and he hit home run No. 100, a grand slam off Julio Teheran in a 6-2 win over the Braves at Nationals Park.
At 23 years and 181 days old, Harper is the eighth-youngest player in Major League history to reach the mark. Mel Ott, Tony Conigliaro, Eddie Mathews, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones, Miguel Cabrera and Johnny Bench were younger than Harper when they hit their 100th homer.
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"It was awesome. It was my mom's birthday, so I was able to hit her a homer," Harper said of his blast, tracked by Statcast™ at 425 feet. "Today was definitely huge. I love these fans, I love this organization. It's a thrill to do it in front of the home crowd. I was glad I was able to do it here."

With the Nationals trailing, 1-0, in the third inning, Harper hit a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall for his third homer of the season. The ball ended up breaking part of the ribbon board in right field. As he was rounding the bases, it looked as if Harper didn't touch first base. But he went back and touched first.
"I didn't want to be called out," Harper said. "I hit [the base] with the back end of my heel. But you never know with replay. I wanted to make sure that I get past it and get home."

Everything was cool after that as Harper received a curtain call. Harper became the third player in Nationals history -- Ian Desmond and Ryan Zimmerman are the others -- with 100 homers.
Harper said a little girl caught the special ball in right field. Harper gave the girl a bat and took photos with her in exchange for the ball.
"Everybody contributed today," Harper said. "Teheran is tough. I was able to get a pitch over the plate and do some damage with it. I was very fortunate to get [us] ahead 4-1 and Stras [Stephen Strasburg] threw well."
Youngest players at the time of their 100th home runs
Year, Player, Age (in years-days)

1. 1931, Mel Ott, 22-132
   
2. 1967, Tony Conigliaro, 22-197
   
3. 1954, Eddie Mathews, 22-293
   
4. 1998, Alex Rodriguez, 23-16
   
5. 2000, Andruw Jones, 23-62
   
6. 2006, Miguel Cabrera, 23-127
   
7. 1971, Johnny Bench, 23-161
   
8. 2016, Bryce Harper, 23-181
   
9. 2003, Albert Pujols, 23-185
   
10. 1957, Hank Aaron, 23-191
    
11. 1993, Ken Griffey Jr., 23-206
    
12. 2013, Giancarlo Stanton, 23-221
    
13. 1959, Frank Robinson, 23-230
    
14. 1955, Mickey Mantle, 23-242
    
15. 1931, Jimmie Foxx, 23-250
    
16. 2015, Mike Trout, 23-253
    
17. 1942, Ted Williams, 23-264
    
18. 1993, Juan Gonzalez, 23-269
    
19. 1938, Joe DiMaggio, 23-273
    
20. 1961, Orlando Cepeda, 23-295