Harper proud of himself for achieving 40-homer season

Bryce Harper joined elite company in MLB history on Wednesday after hitting his 40th home run of the season, an achievement the Washington Nationals slugger was particularly proud of given the circumstances he faced this season.

"Forty homers without a whole lineup I guess all year, that's all the only thing I can say that's something where I'm pretty proud of myself to be able to have the games, have the walks, have the ability to stay in games and really just do the things I can to help this team win," Harper said, referring to the Nationals' frequent injuries to key players this season, including sluggers Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth.

The 22-year-old right fielder has now become only the seventh player in major-league history to hit 40 or more home runs in a season while 22 years or younger.

The others in the illustrious category include Hall of Famers Joe DiMaggio, Met Ott, Eddie Matthews, and Johnny Bench.

Harper maintains that although his stats have swollen this season, in which he's hit .340/.467/.669 with 40 home runs and 92 RBI, he's more focused on helping his team win than watching his figures climb well beyond career highs.

"For the whole season, that's all I wanted to do. I wanted to stay in games and I wanted to do everything I could to really help this team and help this organization win ballgames. And if that was 40 homers, if that was 100 walks, if that's anything I can do in the outfield or any position I can play - that's all I wanted to do," Harper said. "I just wanted to win."

Now that Harper has had a monster fourth season in the majors, he knows expectations will be high for the coming seasons.

"Everybody's gonna expect 40 a year every time I play now," he joked.

Take a look back at every one of Harper's home runs this season in the video below.

(h/t MASN)