MINNEAPOLIS — Bryce Harper stepped to the plate in the first inning Monday against the Twins and crossed off a milestone when he did. For the next two-plus months, until the Athletics play their final game in Oakland Coliseum on Sept. 26, Harper has played in every active Major League ballpark.
And yes, he has probably heard an “overrated” chant in all 30 as well.
He responded on Monday the way he often does.
Harper has been in the league since 2012, but he hadn’t played a game in Minnesota, largely by stroke of luck: He was an All-Star in six of his first seven seasons — 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Target Field hosted the All-Star Game in 2014.
The Nationals hosted the Twins in 2013 and 2016 but never visited them. The Phillies hadn’t been since 2016.
It was the second “all-30” milestone Harper has accomplished this month. Last Saturday, he homered against the A’s to give him homers against all 30 Major League franchises — counting the Houston Astros, whose lone home run surrendered to the two-time MVP came in the 2022 World Series.
Harper’s homered against all active teams and played in all active ballparks, but he has a few more dots to connect until he homers in all 30 active stadiums, which only Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Santana have done. The White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate Field, Astros’ Minute Maid Park and Rangers’ Globe Life Field are three of the last four active parks Harper hasn’t left. (The other is in Oakland, but barring a World Series run that we’ll politely call improbable, the Phillies will never play there again.)
They will, though, visit all those four teams — White Sox, Astros, Rangers and A’s (in their new Sutter Health Park) — next year, so Harper can complete the feat as soon as 2025 with at least one big fly in each three-game series.
Harper left Target Field Monday before he could be asked about completing the 30-stadium tour or the homer, but he’s typically not one to reflect much on such a feat beyond a simple “cool, wish we had won.” That’s fine. Soon, the A’s will move, (possibly) pack up to Las Vegas thereafter, MLB will add two expansion teams and Harper will have the same tour to chase all over again, just like the rest of us.
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