The International Olympic Committee officially announced Monday that baseball and softball will return in the 2028 Summer Olympics, raising questions about whether MLB players would be allowed to participate. If they are, Bryce Harper very badly wants to be involved.
Harper admitted Monday that it would be a “dream” to represent the United States at the Olympics, and expressed his hope that active MLB players would be allowed to take part.
“My wife actually had a hair appointment this morning and she texted me ‘Happy Birthday’ with that,” Harper said Monday, via David Schoenfield of ESPN. “She said, ‘Hey, I guess one of your birthday wishes forever got [granted].’ I’m going to be old at that point, so I don’t know if they’re going to want me on the team, but it’s always a dream. I think it’s everyone’s dream to be in the Olympics, especially coming here.”
Harper will be 35 in the summer of 2028, so even if he will be older, it is entirely plausible that he will still be a quality hitter. As long as that is the case, one would figure he would add a lot to the team.
Harper has long been an advocate for bringing baseball back to the Olympics after it was eliminated in 2008. Now that that is happening, it is safe to assume he will vocally campaign for allowing players to take a break during the summer to go play. How that would work with MLB’s schedule is not clear, but Harper will definitely want to try.
