But it is safe to say Harper had never heard an ovation quite like the one that greeted him from 44,469 fans as he strode to home plate Thursday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park for his first plate appearance for the Philadelphia Phillies.

It was warm and sustained, beginning before he had even left the on-deck circle, and it might have gone on for a good, long while had he not stepped quickly into the batter’s box to face Atlanta Braves right-hander Julio Teheran. It said “hello” and “welcome” and “thanks” all at once — and, if you listened closely, perhaps an undercurrent of “you had better produce.”

With a groundout to first base — the start of an 0-for-3 day with two strikeouts, an intentional walk and a run scored in the Phillies’ 10-4 win — the Bryce Harper era in Philly was officially underway, exactly one month after he signed a 13-year, $330 million free agent contract. Having worn only one uniform across his first seven seasons in the majors — that of the Washington Nationals, No. 34 — Harper now wore the gleaming, pinstriped home whites of the Phillies, a red No. 3 on his back.

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“It’s Opening Day,” Harper said later. “You’ve got anxiety. You’ve got nervousness, things like that. But that’s what it’s all about. It’s going out there and having a million emotions.”

If it felt jarring and incongruous to see the Nationals’ former franchise player lauded and showered with affection in the city where he was always the archenemy, it is nothing compared to what will await five days later, when the Phillies and Harper come to Nationals Park for the first of three visits this season.

Harper never had a moment quite like this in Washington, the love, the joy and the anticipation all rolled into one enormous roar. His debut in a Nationals uniform — on April 28, 2012, at the age of 19 — came at Dodger Stadium. His Nationals Park debut, three days later, came before a crowd of 22,675. He was appreciated in Washington, for sure, and at times revered. He delivered some of the biggest moments and set off some of the biggest roars in the franchise’s history, but that’s a different type of noise.

Say what you will about Harper’s tepid marketplace this offseason, but at least on some level, he chose the Phillies — and if you believe the narrative, he also chose the no-trade clause and the lack of an opt-out in the contract, effectively binding him to the Phillies for the rest of his career.

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The odd thing about a superstar free agent signing in baseball is that the superstar spends his first month or two with the new team at some far-flung outpost in Arizona or Florida. And so, for the first four weeks of the Phillies’ Harper Era, he existed — at least to folks up here — as a pixelated, thick-bearded image surrounded by palm trees and sunshine, beamed from Clearwater, Fla., to their television or smartphone screen.

Over those weeks, the sense of anticipation for his first appearance at Citizens Bank Park swelled, fueled as much by Harper as anyone else. “[H]ow I longed to see the Liberty Bell,” he wrote two days before Opening Day in a heavy-handed, widely mocked Instagram post that also name-checked Philadelphia legends Bobby Clarke, Nick Foles and Chase Utley.

The first glimpse of Harper on Thursday came during the pregame procession as the Phillies appeared atop the center field bleachers and descended through the crowd, down some steps and onto the field, where a red carpet led them to their dugout. Harper brought up the rear — the anchor leg of a 25-man relay. As he approached the dugout railing, a lone figure in a coat and tie shook his hand and slapped his back: Phillies owner John Middleton, the man who believed Harper was worth $330 million.

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Minutes later, when Harper jogged out of the dugout to a hearty roar during pregame introductions, the field ringed with choir members and flag-toting members of the military, he was wearing gaudy, neon-green spikes that, upon closer inspection, depicted the furry, googly-eyed face of the Phillie Phanatic.

They remained on his feet as he ran out to right field before the first inning — greeting the raucous fans out there with a doff of his cap, an exaggerated bow and a fist pump — evidence both of Major League Baseball’s loosening of its footwear policies this offseason and of Harper’s ability to draw attention to himself.

“He’s the kind of guy who’s well equipped for this moment, the biggest stage, the brightest lights. He’s been on that stage since he was 15 years old,” Phillies Manager Gabe Kapler said before the game. “He’s talked at length about how the batter’s box is his sanctuary. There’s a lot of distractions and people needing his attention everywhere he goes. But when he steps in the batter’s box and he rests that bat on his shoulder for a second, everything else falls away.

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“It’s where he talks about his heartbeat being the slowest. And he’s going to need it because a lot is going to be a lot asked of him every single day for the next 13 years. That’s a long time.”

Judging from the “Harper 3” jerseys in the stands, their sleeves filled with arms of men holding $11 cups of beer, it seemed possible Middleton could recoup Harper’s entire 2019 salary from one day’s worth of merch and concession sales. Harper Fever has overtaken the city, with the team reporting record ticket sales in the aftermath of his Feb. 28 signing. At one team store near the first base entrance to the stadium, there appeared to be only one player’s replica jerseys for sale Thursday: Harper’s.

After Harper struck out in both the third and fifth innings, a small smattering of boos went up from the stands. It felt more dutiful and perfunctory than anything, as if Phillies fans knew the media would be listening and took it upon themselves to uphold their own reputation.

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But it was also a reminder of the stakes and of the tension that always will lurk below the surface. Harper, the most expensive player in franchise history, had better produce. The Phillies, loaded and hungry for a title, had better win. This is still the honeymoon phase of what could be a loving and fruitful marriage, but 13 years is a long time.

“It’s super fun to be able to go out and enjoy that — new ballpark, new fan base,” Harper said of his first Opening Day as a Phillie, before dressing at his locker, hopping on a custom scooter that stood nearby and riding away. “And I guess I’ve got 12 more.”