The Bryce Harper hype started more than a decade ago. The first time I saw him, he was cranking balls out of Blair Field in Long Beach, California, the same park where the Long Beach State Dirtbags play. It's a tough park for power hitters because of the marine layer that gobbles up deep fly balls and stops them in their tracks.
But Harper, not even 16 years old, didn't seem to have any problems hitting balls through the thick ocean air.
A year later, he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated.