Bryce Harper vs. Mike Trout, 12 years in: What drives them to be great, and will they ever join forces?

PHILADELPHIA — At 3:32 p.m. in Cleveland on April 28, 2012, Mike Trout led off a game for the Los Angeles Angels after his last call-up from Triple-A. Six hours later at Dodger Stadium, Bryce Harper made his major league debut for the Washington Nationals.

How’s that for a red-letter day in 21st century baseball?

“I didn’t know the same day thing. That’s really cool,” former infielder Phil Gosselin, one of the few to play with both Trout and Harper, said by phone this week. “They’ve been two of the faces of baseball for a while now. To say it all started the same day is awesome.”

Fitting, too.

Drafted one year apart by teams on opposite coasts, Trout and Harper made swift, concurrent rises through the minor leagues and lived up to the hype as generational stars. In a sport that invites and encourages comparisons, Trout vs. Harper was descendant from Ruth vs. Gehrig, DiMaggio vs. Williams, Mantle vs. Mays, Schmidt vs. Brett.

Trout settled the who’s-the-better-player argument by finishing second, second, first, second, first, fourth, second and first in American League MVP voting from 2012 to 2019. Through Thursday, he had 85.8 career wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs; Harper had 47.9.

But Trout and Harper have been central figures in other debates, notably how players should comport themselves on the field and be marketed off it. Lately, they have inspired another question: Whose career is more desirable?

In February 2019, Harper signed with the Phillies for 13 years and $330 million — at the time, the largest free-agent contract in baseball history. Trout agreed a few weeks later to stay with the Angels on a 12-year, $426.5 million deal, still the record for an extension.

Since then, Harper, 31, won an NL MVP in 2021 and led the Phillies on back-to-back postseason runs in 2022 and 2023, emerging as the modern-day Mr. October by batting .324/.432/.705 with 11 home runs in 30 games, including a two-run pennant-clincher at Citizens Bank Park in 2022.

Trout, meanwhile, at age 32, is stuck on three postseason games, none since 2014. He has endured eight consecutive losing seasons, and there’s no end in sight to the Angels’ misery.

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