Bryce Harper is first player to reach these notable milestones on same swing
The bright spots have been few and far between for Bryce Harper in his first season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
With one mighty hack, he created one during Wednesday’s 9-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. And in the process, he made a little bit of MLB history.
With his sixth inning solo home run, Harper reached two notable milestones. Not only was it the 200th home run of his excellent career. It was also his 1,000th career hit.
Before Harper, no player in MLB history had ever reached those two milestones on the same hit.
Bryce Harper just became the first player ever to notch his 200th career homer on his 1,000th career hit. #Phillies
— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) July 4, 2019
But wait... that’s not just limited to 200 home runs and 1,000 hits. It’s any multiple of 100 home runs and 1,000 hits.
Bryce Harper of the @Phillies is the first player in MLB history to reach a multiple of 100 home runs and a multiple of 1000 hits in the same at-bat.#RingTheBell https://t.co/TW2f69jYNK
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) July 4, 2019
That covers an immense amount of ground and is in fact quite amazing.
It’s also fitting Harper notched these milestones against the Braves. His 29 home runs against Atlanta are the most he’s hit against an opposing team. In fact, his 100th career home run came against the Braves too on April 14, 2016. That one was a grand slam.
His 118 hits against Atlanta are the second most against an opponent. He has 130 against the Miami Marlins.
There’s another interesting sidebar here too.
Blasting a solo shot for the @Phillies tonight, Bryce Harper has his 200th career home run. He's the 7th player to record both 200+ career doubles & 200+ career HR in the National League before age 27
— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) July 4, 2019
Harper’s ups and down this season have been covered extensively. He entered play Wednesday night hitting .247/.364/.465, which, if we're being honest, isn't terrible.
It’s disappointing enough to keep him off the NL All-Star team for just the second time in his eight-year career. And it's certainly not the production expected when he inked his 13-year, $330 million contract in February. But because the hype was so large, we tend to overlook how productive Harper has been.
A strong finish to the season would help turn that around, and the Phillies hope Wednesday’s big swing will be the catalyst.
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