Bryce Harper bristles at blowback from toothbrushing technique. Just a squeeze, from tube to tongue

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper bristled at the blowback from his toothbrushing technique that he displayed over a sink inside a San Diego hotel bathroom.

Harper shared his morning routine — appropriately captioned, “Moring Y'all” — to more than 600,000 followers on TikTok and one part or his oral care stopped even his most diehard fans right in their shower shoes.

The Philadelphia Phillies slugger squeezed toothpaste straight from the tube into his mouth, rather than applying it first onto his toothbrush.

Next came the brushback pitch.

“Actually diabolical toothpaste application,” one TikTok follower wrote on the post.

Harper's outrageous oral hygiene was trolled on the videoboard as a “fun fact” by the Padres, left fans “horrified,” per British tabloid The Daily Mail, and generally had social media followers — more than 2.7 million views on Jomboy Media alone — befuddled at his brushing.

“It kind of happens when you post a little bit, right?” Harper told Phillies Nation on Wednesday inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Petco Park. “But yeah, I’ve done it forever.”

Well, the American Dental Association saw the video and its advice to potential emulators is simple: please don't.

“It is not suggested to do it that way,” said Ohio dentist Andrew Zucker, a consumer advisor for the association.

Zucker watched the video and thought Harper — more known for his brush with greatness as a two-time NL MVP — was kidding.

But no, Harper explained to the website, it's just the way he's always brushed his teeth.

“I don't think there's anything to be gained,” Zucker said on Thursday. “The only thing to be lost is just wasting a whole bunch of toothpaste.”

Zucker added: “Just put a little pea-sized bit of it on a toothbrush and that's all you need.”

The Padres had some fun with Harper's toothbrushing tip when he came to hit on Tuesday night. His fun biographical fact was listed as: “SQUIRTS TOOTHPASTE INTO HIS MOUTH INSTEAD OF ONTO A TOOTHBRUSH WHEN BRUSHING HIS TEETH.”

“I mean, it’s gone viral, so I’m happy about that,” Harper told Phillies Nation. “It always helps with my videos when it goes viral, so if that’s what makes it go viral, then I’ll take it.”

It's also quite uncommon.

Zucker's father is a dentist, his mother is a hygienist and he's 45 years old and the only time he saw the squeeze technique was “my 3-year-old and it was because he was trying to eat it. But no, I've never seen an adult brush their teeth this way."

Harper's method has worked for him, and he's flashed his pearly whites over 376 career home runs and eight All-Star appearances.

“If I help half a person a day, changing an ingredient or letting them know there are better quality products out there that they can use or that’ll make them feel better, then I won that day,” Harper said.

So what's the harm in the tube-to-tongue technique?

“My only concern would be, you have a lot of germs in your mouth,” said dentist Maria Ryan, chief clinical officer at Colgate-Palmolive. “When you're putting your mouth on the toothpaste tube, you get those germs on there. Sometimes people share toothpaste and things like that, so I worry about that a little bit.”

But here's the positive takeaway, now that Harper can't put the toothpaste TikTok back in the tube.

Bryce Harper, star slugger, the Phillie Phanatic's best friend, and baseball hero to children of all ages, brushes his teeth. Perhaps there's a fussy Phillies fan in footy pajamas who balks at the twice-daily ritual but might be more inclined to brush because Harper does it, as well.

“I was glad he was brushing his teeth,” Ryan said. "I see he's gotten a lot of views. It's good he's telling people you need to brush your teeth, which is very important for preventing cavities and gum disease.

“But it's a unique way of doing it, for sure. So, I probably wouldn't do it that way or instruct my patients to do it that way.”

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Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, right, high-fives teammates after scoring on a single hit by Bryson Stott during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, right, greets first base coach Paco Figueroa (38) after hitting a single during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Saturday, May 23, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)

ROME (AP) — Baseball rivalry couldn't be averted when Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — a Cubs fan — met privately Thursday with Pope Leo XIV, a Chicago native and lifelong White Sox fan.

Johnson diplomatically brought gifts from both cross-town rivals, and asked the pope to come visit his hometown. But when he handed the pope a Cubs hat, the pontiff noted he already was wearing a cap — a white zucchetto, or skull cap worn by pontiffs.

“I was able to proudly offer him up the Cubs hat, of which he made it very clear that he was already wearing one,” Johnson told reporters after the private meeting with Leo at the Vatican.

“When we sat down before we took the group picture, he said he was grateful that we’re all coming together uniting, you know Cubs fans, Sox fans,” Johnson said.

Johnson is a progressive Democrat and leading critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, who is serving his first term as mayor of the third-largest city in the U.S. During the private meeting with the pope, Johnson applauded Leo for pushing back against the war in Iran and Trump administration immigration policies.

“First of all, I just thanked him for his courage. I thanked him for his moral stance against these endless wars," Johnson said. He said the pope asked him specifically about Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployment and its impact on the city.

Johnson said the pontiff "was very gracious and very encouraging" about a series of executive orders that he had issued to push back against federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago.

Trump has frequently criticized Leo for his anti-war stance, to which Leo responded with increasingly bold retorts — all leading to a fence-mending visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month.

Johnson took the opportunity to invite Leo to his hometown next year, recalling Pope John Paul II’s visit to Chicago and Mass in Grant Park on Oct. 5, 1979, “forever remembered as the most spiritually inspiring day in Chicago history.”

“Your Holiness, you were a young priest-in-training at the time. Perhaps you were there. Perhaps you would consider a repeat Papal visit nearly 50 years later to share your own message of hope, unity and service,’’ Johnson wrote in a letter he presented to the pope with the formal invitation.

Johnson, who grew up the son of a pastor, invited the pope to say Mass in Grant Park in 2027, noting that Chicago is home to one of the largest Catholic populations in the United States.

It’s at least the second official invitation that Leo has received to visit the United States. U.S. Vice President JD Vance invited Leo soon after he became pope last May.

Leo was born Robert Prevost in 1955 in the South Side of Chicago neighborhood of Bronzeville and grew up in suburban Dolton, near St. Mary of the Assumption, where he attended Mass and elementary school.

He later studied theology at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago in Hyde Park and taught in local Catholic schools.

AP writer Colleen Barry contributed from Milan.

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson attends a press briefing in Rome, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson attends a press briefing in Rome, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Chicago's Mayor Brandon Johnson attends a press briefing in Rome, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Leo XIV waves as he leaves after his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican, Wednesday, May 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)