Mets Card of the Week: 2005 Brett Harper

2005 TOPPS HERITAGE BRETT HARPER

So who’s your favorite Harper?

Perhaps you melt for Atticus Finch, have preordered your copy of Go Set a Watchman, and can think only of Harper Lee.

Or maybe you’re a publishing nerd with a soft spot for John and James Harper, 19th century forebears of the Harper & Brothers/Harper & Row/HarperCollins empire.

The Oi! fans among you might nominate Charlie Harper, lead singer for yobby British punk band UK Subs.

I’m guessing it’s not Bryce Harper, the Nats right fielder who looks like he’s just three or four tattoos short of slapping a stand-up bass for the Stray Cats.

Well, I’d like to submit for your consideration former Mets prospect Brett Harper.

Now just to be clear, I don’t know anything about Harper beyond the somewhat tortured statistical narrative laid out on his baseball-reference page. But that in itself is quite a compelling tale…

Brett Harper was drafted by the Mets in the 45th round in 2000, and left his Arizona home for the wilds of the farm system at age 19. He progressed steadily, first hitting for decent average but little power, then slugging 17 HRs across three leagues as a 22-year old.

Harper proved that his newfound pop was not a fluke by tallying 36 HRs for St. Lucie and Binghamton the following season. He missed most of the 2006 campaign, but came back strong for Binghamton in 2007, batting .296 with 24 HRs.

By 2008, he was no longer with the Mets, and earned an invitation to spring training with the Giants. He didn’t make the big club, and spent the next few seasons pinballing around the PCL, logging time with the AAA squads of the Giants, Dodgers, Blue Jays, and A’s. He compiled a couple of additional decent seasons along the way, but for some reason, no one ever saw fit to call him up.

Harper signed with the Yokohama Bay Stars in 2010, and spent three years playing in Japan, after which he passed his early 30s realizing diminishing returns in Mexico.

His baseball-reference page ends at 2013, with Harper a 31-year old journeyman who played in more leagues than Jules Verne could have ever imagined, but never logged a day of big-league service time.

If I were the GM of a non-contending team, I would make a call this September and give Brett Harper a roster spot. And I’d have my manager spend enough at bats to get him at least one hit.

And I would sleep all the better for it, knowing that I had stepped away from the relatively petty concerns of building a winning team and done something truly important…