The Fourth of July celebrations have become a tradition at Nationals Park. We've become accustomed to taking in the holiday with a United States-shaped flag in the outfield and the Nationals' special uniforms. But Bryce Harper took it one step further this year.

Harper used a patriotic bat, featuring stars and strips with the D.C. skyline. In his first at-bat with the lumber, Harper smashed a two-run home run to extend the Nationals' lead to 3-0. He went on to go 3-for-4 with two RBIs, all with the red, white and blue bat in Harper's hands. In his postgame interview with Dan Kolko on "Nats Xtra", Harper explained that he got the bat this offseason, but didn't have an opportunity to use it. He went on to say that he expects to get fined for using the flashy bat, but laughed and said it's "definitely worth it." Watch Harper's two-run shot and his story behind the bat in the videos below. Your browser does not support iframes.