Fans with 'Bruce Harper' sign misspelled name on purpose

Bruce Harper's fan base is smarter than we thought.

The two fans who misspelled Bryce Harper's name on a sign over the weekend revealed Monday the whole thing was an attempt to go viral - and they succeeded.

"There literally is not an origin (to the joke)," Kyle Banas, who created the sign, told Scott Allen of the Washington Post. "I honestly had no idea about the whole Dusty Baker incident or people booing Bryce and it sounding like 'Bruce.' I just thought it would be funny to come a long way and be such a diehard fan to misspell his name."

Banas and his friend, Ryan Winnick, explained they hatched the plan weeks ago, and provided the Post with screenshots of their text messages as proof.

While they fell short of one of their goals for the evening - getting Harper's autograph - the sign went viral once the Nationals' broadcast caught sight of them.

"I didn't see Kyle lift his head up from his phone for the next three innings," Winnick said. "I'd say half the people knew it was a joke and half the people didn’t."