Kris Bryant, Bryce Harper come home to be honored with family, friends

Bryce Harper, the National League's Most Valuable Player, and Kris Bryant, its Rookie of the Year received keys to the city during a ceremony on the the 3rd Street Stage at the Fremont Street Experience downtown Thursday night.

Baseball highlights of the duo were shown on the canopy, but you had to turn your head and neck at a weird angle to see them.

Afterward, Bryant showed off his latest bauble. It came in a nice box covered in crushed blue velvet. The key appear to be encrusted with little jewels that might have been little jewels, or might have just been little sparkly bits.

This is why I believe Mayor Carolyn Goodman, one of two Mayor Goodmans who toasted the Las Vegas sluggers in front of a nice crowd that came out on a brisk night hoping to collect selfies and autographs — the other Mayor Goodman, Oscar, literally toasted Harper and Goodman with a gigantic Bombay Sapphire martini — made out better than the fence-besting ballplayers.

First, as she was standing between them, she referred to herself as a "cougar" and seemed to get away with it. In keeping with their personas, Harper laughed out loud while Bryant smiled bashfully.

Someone on the mayor's staff posted a photo of her holding bats that Harper and Bryant had autographed before the ceremony. A cursory Google search turned up several signed Harper bats, the least expensive of which was going for $2,910.99. A Bryant model could be had $449.99.

It should be noted that neither of these Internet signed bats were encrusted with jewels and/or sparkly bits, and neither came with a letter of authenticity from an elected official that considers herself a cougar.

But everybody agreed it was nice to see Harper and Bryant in a relaxed setting, surrounded by hundreds of their fans and their former high school coaches and assorted family members and significant others. Harper even did 1-on-1 interviews, or at least some 3-on-1s and 2-on-1s.

Mike Bryant, Kris' dad, was wrapped in a beanie and a heavy bandage after being injured in a golf cart accident — honest, that's how it happened, Kris said; Harper shared intimate words with Lois Tarkanian, the widow of former UNLV basketball coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian.

About an hour after the ceremony, Bryce Harper posted a poignant photo on his Twitter account that totally captured the moment.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski