Just a few days after requiring stitches from his bat richocheting off the wall and back into his face in the midst of a 0-for-5 game with three strikeouts, 19-year-old phenom Bryce Harper hit his first big league home run to help the Washington Nationals to an 8-5 win on Monday night.
The start of a new era of superstardom is met with an embeddable MLB.com video:
Harper homered in his 62nd plate appearance and his 15th game in the bigs. At 19 years, 211 days old, Harper is now the youngest to hit a homer since Adrian Beltre did it for the Los Angeles Dodgers when he was 19 years, 171 days old in September 1998, according to STATS.
Harper has had quite a wild ride so far in the big leagues — his first career hit was a laser with a guy mooning the camera in the background; he stole home after being intentionally plunked; he has had some amazing throws and some gaffes in the field; and now, he has a home run with a subsequent curtain call.
