First look: Bryce Harper's 2010 USA Baseball box set cards

By CHRIS OLDS | Beckett Baseball Editor

A USA Baseball official confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Bryce Harper will appear in this year’s commemorative boxed set of baseball cards and provided images of Harper’s cards exclusively to Beckett Media.

The annual fund-raising product is scheduled to arrive on Jan. 12 but other details on the set produced by Upper Deck are few and far between (the company can’t market the product before release because of the athletes’ status as amateurs). A checklist, price and other details have not yet been announced.

“I can confirm that Bryce Harper will be featured in the USA Baseball National Teams Box Set on both game-used equipment and autograph cards,” said David Perkins, USA Baseball’s Director of Marketing and Licensing.

Harper,  a 17-year-old who hit .626 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs in high school this past season, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated last summer and was tabbed “Baseball’s chosen one ” and “the most exciting prodigy since LeBron.”

Harper received his GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada in June with an eye on being selected in the 2010 MLB Draft where he’s expected to be taken with the first pick by the Washington Nationals.

Harper’s other baseball cards — from last year’s USA Baseball set and Topps’ Aflac All-American Game promo cards — have been some of the hottest in the hobby in the last year.

See more images of Harper’s cards after the jump.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Graded Card Investor. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.