Bryce Harper, the Philadelphia Phillies’ star, debuted in the league with the Washington Nationals in 2012, but did not play against the Oakland Athletics until 2017. In the game, he went 0 for 2, walked three times, struck out twice, and stole a base.
Harper returned to play the A’s in 2022 and 2023, accumulating five more games, but one accomplishment escaped him until Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. He’d never taken an A’s pitcher deep. That all changed when Harper went to the other field on a 1-1 Austin Adams fastball.
Harper was 6-for-25 (.240) versus Oakland in his career, with a.406 OBP. The home run he hit on Saturday was number 327 in his career. If he can stay healthy, he has a decent chance of joining the elite 500-home run club. There are currently only 28 members in that group.
There were 20,690 players in major league history before to Saturday’s game. 28 of them have reached 500 home runs. Harper is now ranked eighth in terms of home runs, trailing only Giancarlo Stanton (420), Mike Trout (378), Joey Votto (356), Paul Goldschmidt (353), Freddie Freeman (335), and Nolan Arenado (333). Harper is the youngest player on this
The A’s have done a good job of minimizing the long ball in 2024, allowing up 102 in 97 games, ranking 14th in baseball. The Phillies have allowed 84, while the Atlanta Braves have let up 80, the greatest mark in MLB.
With the Phillies leading Atlanta by 9.5 games in the NL East, this is one of the few occasions when the Braves will be higher in the standings than Philadelphia.
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