Nationals to promote Bryce Harper on Saturday
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
The most highly touted prospect in baseball card history, Bryce Harper, will be promoted to the majors and will make his big-league debut on Saturday in left field when the Washington Nationals visit the Los Angeles Dodgers, the team announced Friday.
Harper, 19, was hitting .250 with one home run and three RBI in 20 games for Triple-A Syracuse before the call. He’ll face former NL All-Star Chad Billingsley, who will take the hill for the NL West-leading Dodgers. Pitching for the Nationals? Another highly touted former No. 1 overall pick and cardboard wunderkind, Stephen Strasburg.
Since his arrival on cardboard in 2009, Harper has appeared on 248 different cards with a total value topping $28,600 for those not too rare to price. (Need a Harper checklist or OPG? Click here.) His rarest and most sought-after cards have commanded some big prices in online auctions, while others are awaiting their prospective buyers … if they are out there.
His most-valuable card priced by Beckett Media is his 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs Gold Refractors #BCP111B, which is limited to just 50 copies and has sold for as much as $2,200.
The promotion will make Harper eligible to appear in all 2012 Topps products for the remainder of this season — not just Bowman brands — and also means he could appear in Panini America‘s baseball products, but not as an autograph as he is a Topps-exclusive player for ink.
We want to know what you think of Harper’s arrival. Let us know with our polls and tell us more in the comments below.
If you haven’t seen any interviews with Harper, check this one out.
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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
