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‘Bryce Harper’ Sends Ozzie Guillen Autographed Pine Tar Bat in Prank

Given Bryce Harper's professionalism in dealing with the Cole Hamels situation soon after he came into the big leagues, it shouldn't have been overly surprising to learn that the rookie outfielder had sent Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen an autographed bat in an attempt to smooth things over after their recent run-in.

There was one problem, however — the Harper-autographed, pine tar-smeared bat delivered to Guillen in the aftermath of Guillen's squabble with the 19-year-old was not actually sent by Harper.

The bat was actually delivered as part of a prank by Adam LaRoche and other Nationals teammates. They apparently got Harper to sign a bat without telling him who it was going to, covered it in pine tar and then added the words "To my hero, Ozzie, love you."

Guillen laughed off the delivery, calling it "funny," and he reiterated that while he has nothing against Harper personally, he still took issue with Harper's actions during Sunday's Nationals-Marlins game.

Guillen had complained during Harper's first at-bat about what he felt was an excessive amount of pine tar on the rookie's bat, then yelled choice words in his direction when he thought Harper made some disrespectful gestures during his next at-bat.