Josh Hamilton was once baseball’s ‘Next Big Thing’. The current holder of that moniker is Nevada high schooler Bryce Harper. This weekend, Harper is participating in the annual AFLAC All-American Game. As part of the festivities surrounding the game, Topps makes cards for the participants, to be handed out to fans at the game, and also for insertion into future products.
Beckett.com has a story on Harper signing his cards for Topps. A Topps employee predicts that these cards will be on eBay about 4 hours after they are handed out. Depending on the smart phone / netbook capability of some of the fans, I’d say that might be a generous assessment.
Harper has one other card out – an autographed Team USA patch card from Upper Deck. It sells for around $1000. What does Harper think of this? He thinks its ridiculous. “If I was somebody and I was looking at a Bryce Harper card, I wouldn’t buy it. No shot,” Harper said. “I’d go out and buy me a nice dinner or something cool. A thousand dollars for a Bryce Harper card? No way. Maybe for a Josh Hamilton or a Derek Jeter, but Bryce Harper? No shot.”
One thing Harper doesn’t realize – potential almost always outsells performance. Credit to Beckett for the Harper photo.
