WASHINGTON — There are several acceptable places to find the digits 214. They help you make a phone call to Dallas. They make a handy abbreviation for Valentine’s Day. They take you to a live play-by-play station on the satellite radio dial.
Here’s where no one expects to see it: in the batting average column for Bryce Harper, the Washington Nationals slugger who will start in center field at his home park in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game. Harper’s .214 average is the lowest of the 43 position players named to the All-Star teams.
“I look up there and see my average and go, ‘Oh man,’” Harper said on Monday.