When Bryce Harper was accused of 'cheating' Kyle Schwarber out of victory in 2018 Home Run Derby

During a 2018 Home Run Derby competition, controversy broke out about Bryce Harper and his father cheating during the game.

Twitter erupted with accusations of Harper cheating at the last minute of bonus time against Kyle Schwarber. An SB Nation article highlighted and analyzed whether the rumors of Harper cheating were true or not.

The accusations stated that Harper's father had pitched a few minutes before he should have. This should be considered a foul or cheat, according to many fans of the Cubs and Kyle Schwarber on Twitter.

The accusations were:

"The elder Harper did throw a couple pitches too soon"

Even though the pitch had come a few seconds earlier, it didn't particularly declare the Harper duo as cheaters. They were in the final moments of the bonus match and senior Harper had his back to the wall in the final round.

This might suggest that Elder Harper didn't know that he had pitched a few seconds earlier. Even then, a few seconds didn't make that much of a difference in the overall judgment of the game. Yet that didn't stop Twitter users from accusing Harper.

Here are some of the tweets from users accusing Harper of cheating posted by Steinberg:

Thankfully, many came to the defense of Bryce Harper, and the accusations of cheating didn't bother his true fans.

When Jay Jaffe defended Bryce Harper on Twitter

World Series - Philadelphia Phillies v Houston Astros - Game Six

After the debacle, people on Twitter accusing Bryce Harper and his father of cheating broke out. However, an unlikely ally surfaced to defend him against these accusations. That someone was, Jay Jaffe.

Jay Jaffe is a Senior Writer at Fangraphs and the author of The Cooperstown Casebook and is alsolso someone who is qualified to vote in the Hall of Fame elections.

Against all the accusers who kept saying that the elder Harper cheated because he pitched a few seconds early, Jaffe had this to say on the Fangraphs Blog:

"The 25-year-old Nationals superstar did have his back to the wall in the final round against fifth-seeded Kyle Schwarber, but with nine homers in the final minute — on 10 swings by my count, though ESPN’s broadcast said nine in a row — he tied the Cubs slugger’s total of 18".

Jaffe continued with:

"On the second pitch of the 30-second bonus period, he lofted a 434-foot drive to center field, then did a two-handed bat flip as the crowd went wild, and quickly handed the trophy to his barrel-chested father, Ron, who had pitched to him"

He even went on to Twitter to defend Bryce Harper against another user claiming that the Philadelphia Phillies right fielder cheated.

The Tweet was:

With names such as Jaffe defending him, many did not believe the accusations placed on the Harper father-son duo.