I am, and always have been, a big fan of Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, but he was sorely mistaken about one thing earlier this spring.

Baseball doesn’t need to be made fun again. It already is, and it always has been.

When Harper put on his cheeky ‘Make Baseball Fun Again’ cap at his locker after the Nationals’ opening night game, it was a little tongue-in-cheek and jab at his stodgy critics, a small but vocal faction who perceive themselves as the keepers of baseball’s sanctity.

The ludicrous notion of a sport being sacred aside, baseball is itself it’s own little world of fun. It’s a game, something fun by definition, and it’s a particularly juvenile game at that (perhaps why I love it so much). It’s one we play as kids and we watch in carnival-like surroundings, eating Cracker Jacks and cotton candy.

It’s downright silly to watch grown men with sticks whack a little sphere around every day during the summer, but there is sweetness in that silliness. There are pure, blissful moments, untouched by cynicism or spite.

I’m talking, of course, about Bartolo Colon hitting a home run.

If you missed it — and if you’ve been on any form of social media in the last week, you haven’t — Colon is 42 years old and, well, a bit pudgier than you’d picture a professional athlete. He’s a pitcher for the New York Mets and a fine pitcher, too, with 221 career wins, a Cy Young award (2005) and a 2.82 ERA through seven games this year.

But after spending most of his career in the American League, where he was kept out of the batter’s box by the designated hitter, Colon joined the Mets in 2014 and his at bats and other antics have become the stuff of internet legend.

There’s the time he swung so hard that his helmet popped off his bushy head of hair. Or the time he broke his bat and got a deafening ovation from his hometown crowd. Or the time he celebrated a strong outing by going to the dugout, grabbing his ample midsection with two hands and jiggling it to his teammates’ delight.

Colon is a man who’s living life the right way. He doesn’t take himself too seriously. He appreciates everything he’s earned in his career, like the untold millions of dollars he’s banked from playing a game. He makes the day brighter for those around him — always smiling, laughing and self-deprecating — and he’s beloved around the sport. Plus he’s good at his job.

Here he is, a hard-working, successful, fun-loving middle-aged dude who doesn’t take himself too seriously.

The man’s a national treasure.

But one who’d never hit a home run.

Until, on Saturday, he loaded up, swung as hard as he could and drove a James Shields fastball just over the left field wall at Petco Park in San Diego. When it happened, you could practically see the happy pouring out of every corner of the baseball universe.

The television call is an absurdist masterpiece, with Mets play-by-play man Gary Cohen’s voice cracking as soon as the ball leaves the park. He follows it up with “the impossible has happened” and the comically giddy “this is one of the great moments in the history of baseball.” All that before color man Keith Hernandez jabs by adding “I want to say that was one of the longest home run trots I’ve ever seen, but I think that’s how fast he runs.”

The funniest part, though, is it felt like one of baseball’s great moments. Try to watch that video and not smile. I can’t watch it without giggling.

Colon’s teammates left the dugout — giving him the silent treatment, yet another of baseball’s childish yet heartwarming traditions — but when they returned and swarmed atop their portly pitcher, it was another outpouring of pure, unfiltered joy.

I don’t know who won that game. I could have looked it up, but that’s not the point. The wins, the losses, the pain and the sweat, they will always be a part of sports, baseball included. But they’re not most important.

Baseball is still for the kid inside all of us, and it’s still a ton of fun. Always has been, always will be.

Andy Viano is a sports reporter and columnist. He can be reached at 758-4446 or [email protected].