Bryce Harper has best-selling jersey of 2019

Players may think Bryce Harper is “the most overrated” guy in baseball, but fans don’t think that way. At least the ones in Philly whose great enthusiasm for their new outfielder has pushed his jersey sales to the top of the charts. That’s according to Major League Baseball which just released the top-selling jerseys in baseball since the first of the year, with Harper in the number one position.

Following Harper is Aaron Judge, who had the top-selling jersey in 2018. Then comes Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and, somewhat surprisingly to me anyway, Yadier Molina. After all of these years you’d figure that every Cards fan who wanted a Molina jersey had gotten one already, but I guess the classics never go out of style. Have to figure Paul Goldschmidt is gonna surge up from number 11 and pass him this season, but who knows?

Here’s the whole top-20:

1. Bryce Harper, Philadelphia Phillies

2. Aaron Judge, New York Yankees

3. Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

4. Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels

5. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals

6. Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers

7. Javier Báez, Chicago Cubs

8. Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

9. Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs

10. Ronald Acuña Jr., Atlanta Braves

11. Paul Goldschmidt, St. Louis Cardinals

12. Manny Machado, San Diego Padres

13. Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners

14. Cody Bellinger, Los Angeles Dodgers

15. Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs

16. Jose Altuve, Houston Astros

17. Alex Bregman, Houston Astros

18. Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox

19. Giancarlo Stanton, New York Yankees

20. Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

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Earlier today the Major League Baseball Umpire’s Association made multiple posts on social media registering its displeasure at what it feels was the league’s weak discipline of Manny Machado following his run-in with umpire Bill Welke. It was an unusual statement, as it’s not common for umpires, individual or via their union to comment on such matters.

This evening, in an official statement, the league called it inappropriate:

“Manny Machado was suspended by MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre, who considered all the facts and circumstances of Machado’s conduct, including precedent, in determining the appropriate level of discipline. Mr. Machado is appealing his suspension and we do not believe it is appropriate for the union representing Major League Umpires to comment on the discipline of players represented by the Players Association, just as it would not be appropriate for the Players Association to comment on disciplinary decisions made with respect to umpires. We also believe it is inappropriate to compare this incident to the extraordinarily serious issue of workplace violence.”

That final bit, about workplace violence, is something that I didn’t really consider when I read the umps’ statements, but it’s a damn good point. In an age where people are literally shooting up workplaces, umpires making reference to that kind of thing in response to a player throwing a bat is pretty rich indeed. And in pretty poor taste.

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