July 3: Bryce Harper’s Milestones

The Main Event

• July 3, 2019 – Byrce Harper hits his 200th career home run in a 9-2 loss to Atlanta. It was also his 1000th career hit.

Bryce Harper has spent nearly a decade and a half rewriting the record books, usually well ahead of schedule. From a hyped teenage debut in Los Angeles to an MVP run in Philadelphia, his career has been a string of milestones that arrived faster than almost anyone else’s in the game’s history. Here’s a look back at the big ones, from his first big-league at-bat through where things stand today.

Harper arrived in the majors on April 28, 2012, at Dodger Stadium, just 19 years old and less than two years removed from being the first overall pick out of the College of Southern Nevada. He went 1-for-3 with a seventh-inning double and a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the ninth, though Washington ultimately fell in extra innings on a Matt Kemp walk-off homer. The debut followed a rocky stretch in Triple-A Syracuse, where Harper hit just .243, and Nationals GM Mike Rizzo was candid that the timing wasn’t ideal. It didn’t matter much. Harper was in the big leagues to stay.

After an 0-for-11 skid to open his career, Harper delivered his first big-league homer on May 14, 2012, off Padres right-hander Tim Stauffer. He sprinted around the bases so fast that the trip took about 18 seconds, a fitting visual for a player whose game has always been built on urgency. A week earlier, he’d also become the first teenager since 1964 to steal home, part of a memorable stretch after Cole Hamels hit him with a pitch and later admitted it was intentional.

Despite not debuting until late April, Harper hit .270 with 22 homers, 59 RBI and 98 runs scored in 139 games, enough to edge Arizona’s Wade Miley for NL Rookie of the Year honors. His 22 home runs as a teenager trailed only Tony Conigliaro‘s 24 on the all-time list.

In 2015, Harper put together one of the best offensive seasons of the decade, slashing .330/.460/.649 with 42 home runs and 99 RBI. At 23, he became the youngest unanimous MVP in MLB history, receiving all 30 first-place votes.

The 100th home run arrived with a grand slam

On April 14, 2016, Harper turned on a pitch from Atlanta’s Julio Teheran for his 100th career homer — his first career grand slam — in a 6-2 Nationals win. At 23 years and 181 days old, he became the eighth-youngest player in history to reach the 100-homer mark.

Free agency ended with a record-setting deal in Philadelphia

When Harper hit free agency, his quest for a new team dragged deep into spring training before he signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies in February 2019 — at the time the richest deal in North American sports history. He debuted for Philadelphia on March 28 against Atlanta and delivered immediately, hitting his first homer as a Phillie two days later off former Phillies pitching prospect Jesse Biddle, which also happened to be his first hit in red pinstripes.

On July 3, 2019, Harper’s sixth-inning homer off Bryse Wilson at SunTrust Park went down as both his 1,000th career hit and his 200th career homer — the first time any player in major league history had ever reached a milestone hit total and a milestone home run total on the same swing. It came in a lopsided 9-2 loss, but Harper made clear it didn’t diminish the moment, even motioning for the ball as he rounded the bases so a generous Braves fan could toss it back.

A second MVP cemented his place among the Phillies greats

Harper capped a huge 2021 season — .309/.429/.615 with 35 home runs, 84 RBI and a league-leading 1.044 OPS — by winning his second NL MVP award, edging Juan Soto and Fernando Tatis Jr. It made him just the second player in history, after Barry Bonds, to win MVP with two different franchises before turning 30, and the first Phillies MVP since Jimmy Rollins in 2007.

The swing that sent Philadelphia to the World Series

The biggest moment of Harper’s time with the Phillies so far, came on October 23, 2022, when he hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Padres reliever Robert Suárez in the eighth inning of Game 5 of the NLCS, sending Philadelphia to its first World Series since 2009. He was named NLCS MVP for his effort. The Phillies would go on to lose the World Series to Houston in six games, though Harper’s Game 3 homer helped the Phillies tie a record for most home runs by a team in a single World Series game.

Tommy John surgery, then a fast return

After tearing his UCL, Harper underwent Tommy John surgery on November 23, 2022. He returned to the Phillies’ lineup on May 2, 2023 — just over five months later — and spent that season transitioning from the outfield to first base to ease the burden on his surgically repaired elbow.

Harper reached 300 career homers on August 30, 2023, becoming the fourth-youngest player to do so and just the fifth player ever to hit his 300th in a Phillies uniform, joining Ryan Howard, Mike Schmidt, Roy Sievers and Chuck Klein. Three weeks earlier, on August 21, he’d hit the first inside-the-park home run by a designated hitter in Phillies franchise history.

A fourth Silver Slugger, at a third position

Harper’s 2024 season, his first full year at first base, brought his fourth career Silver Slugger Award and made him just the fourth player in MLB history to win one at three different positions — outfield, first base and DH — joining Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols and Al Oliver. He was also a Gold Glove finalist at his new position.

Then, just last season, Harper’s RBI single put the Phillies ahead in a win over Pittsburgh and gave him 1,000 career RBI. It made him the 14th player in MLB history to reach 1,000 RBI, 1,000 runs and 1,000 walks before turning 33 — 11 of the other 13 are in the Hall of Fame.

Where things stand today

Harper, now 33, is in his 15th big-league season and his eighth as a Phillie. He carries a career line with a career average of .280, 1,886 hits, 383 home runs, 1,108 RBI and 1,210 runs scored. Then, there are also: two MVP awards, a Rookie of the Year, four Silver Sluggers and an NLCS MVP. This season he’s hitting .274 with 20 home runs, putting him on a productive pace as the Phillies push through the summer. Given how far ahead of the aging curve nearly every one of these milestones has arrived, it would be a surprise if his next one is far off.

Philadelphia Baseball Events for July 3

• July 3, 1911 – In Philadelphia, the A’s Frank Baker hits for the cycle in a 5 – 1 win over the Yankees in the second game of a doubleheader.
• July 3, 1935 – With New York runners on first and second, center fielder Ethan Allen dropped a fly ball intentionally then started a double play that nabbed both runners. The Phillies won the game, 4-3.
• July 3, 1956 – Pittsburgh second-baseman Johnny O’Brien is called on to pitch. He doesn’t allow the Phils to score in his 2-2/3 innings of work, and picks up the win.
• July 3, 1965 – First baseman Frank Thomas swings his bat at outfielder Dick Allen during an argument during pre-game workouts. Thomas, who hit a pinch homer to tie the game in the eighth inning, is released following the 10-8 loss to the Reds.
• July 3, 1977 – Mike Schmidt leads off the eight inning against Pittsburgh with an inside-the-park home run, the second and last of his career. He almost had another one in the same game, but was thrown out at the plate in the third inning.
• July 3, 1983 – In a 6-4 win over the Mets, Willie Hernandez strikes out the final six New York batters (the first three looking). He tied an NL record for consecutive strikeouts by a reliever.
• July 3, 1984 – The biggest regular-season crowd in Veterans Stadium history (63,816) watches the Phillies lose a 6-5 decision to the Reds.
• July 3, 1993 – Traded Tim Mauser to San Diego for Roger Mason, who would make 89 relief appearances over 1993 and 1994 with an ERA of 3.82.
• July 3, 1999 – The Phillies defeat the Cubs, 21-8, scoring eight runs in the first inning and seven more with two outs in the fourth. Second baseman Marlon Anderson gets five hits for Philadelphia, including a home run off third baseman Gary Gaetti, who is forced into mound duty for Chicago.
• July 3, 2017 – Freddy Galvis attends the birth of his daughter early in the morning. After a few hours sleep, he’s in the lineup for the night’s game against Pittsburgh and delivers a a home run.
• July 3, 2018 – Rhys Hoskins doubled in two runs in a 3-2 win over Baltimore. It was his 100th and 101st career RBI and 124th career game, earning him a team mark for fastest to 100 RBI. Chuck Klein held the previous record of 143 games set in 1929.

ICYMI

• Philly Baseball News – Phillies Bullpen Gives One to the Pirates
• Philly Baseball News – Gage Wood, Wen-Hui Pan Selected for Futures Game

Philadelphia Baseball Birthdays for July 3

• Cliff Curtis (born 1881) – A right-hander who made 18 appearances – 13 starts – with the 2011 and 2012 Phillies. Curtis posted a 2.94 ERA.
• Heinie Sand (born 1897) – Sand played both at shortstop and third base for the Phillies from 1923 to 1928 and hit .258/.343/.344/.687. His time in Philadelphia covered the extent of his major league career.
• Chet Nichols (born 1897) – A right-handed reliever, Nichols spent his final three MLB seasons with the Phillies from 1930-1932. He went 1-5, 7.02 in five starts and 25 relief appearances.
• Howie Schultz (born 1922) – Acquired from Brooklyn during the 1947 season, the first baseman also played for the Phillies in 1948. Between the two seasons he hit just .219.
• Ed Roebuck (born 1931) – Was purchased from the Washington Senators early in the 1964 season, Roebuck finished his career with three seasons as a right-handed reliever for the Phillies. Roebuck had 110 relief appearances with the Phillies and a 2.83 ERA.
• Cesar Tovar (born 1940) – Born in Venezuela, Tovar was a versatile infielder and outfielder who was acquired from Minnesota in November of 1972 and then traded to Texas in December of 1973 in a cash deal.
• Tommy Hunter (born 1986) – A right-handed reliever who pitched for Philadelphia from 2018-2020 and posted a 5-5, 3.64 record in 94 relief outings.
• Gabe Craig (born 2001) – Craig was drafted in the fifth round of last year’s draft. He opened the season with Clearwater prior to being promoted to Jersey Shore on June 16. In the two stops, Craig, a right-handed reliever, has a 2-0, 3.04 record and in 26.2 innings has struck out 39 batters, while issuing 13 walks.

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