Antonio Bernazard Garcia (born August 24, 1956) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

player and former executive in the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

organization. Bernazard served as an assistant to Mets

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Omar Minaya Omar Teodoro Antonio Minaya y Sánchez (born November 10, 1958) is a Dominican baseball executive. He was the special assistant to the general manager of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. He previously served as general manager for the ...

before being dismissed on July 27, 2009.

Playing career

During his ten-year major league career, Bernazard played second base,

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

, and

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. The position is authorized by Major League Baseball Rule 5.11. It was adopted by the American League in 1973 and later by th ...

for the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive F ...

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

, and

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He hit 75

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s in 3,700

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens during their turn at bat, but a bat ...

s with 523 runs, 177 doubles, 30 triples, 391 RBI, 113

stolen bases In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base to which they are not entitled and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or ...

and 428

bases on balls A base on balls (BB), also known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls '' balls'', and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Se ...

. His career hitting line (BA/OBP/SLG) stands at .262/.339/.387. Bernazard missed out on the

divisional pennant run of 1983 when he was traded to the Mariners for second baseman Julio Cruz on June 15 of that year. The speedier Cruz helped spur the Sox to win the division by 20 games. In 1984 with the Indians, he went through an 0-for-44 stretch at the plate, tying a major league hitless streak for non-

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

s in the last 50 years. He

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

only .221 that year. He rebounded to have two productive seasons with the Indians, batting .274 in 1985 and a career-high .301 in 1986, while also hitting 17 home runs. Inexplicably,

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

pictured Bernazard as an American League All Star in its 1987 set (card number 607) though Bernazard was not named to the American League All Star Team in 1986 or any other season. From 1988–1990, he played for the Nankai/Fukuoka Daiei Hawks (now the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks) in the Japanese

Pacific League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues constituting Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship competes against the winner in the Central League for the annual Japan Series. It currently consis ...

. After a brief major league comeback in 1991 with the Tigers, in which he went 2-for-12 in six games, his career was over.

Front office career

Bernazard became the vice president of development for the New York Mets in December 2004 after serving as a special assistant to general manager Omar Minaya. During the 2004 off-season, then-free agent first baseman

Carlos Delgado Carlos Juan Delgado Hernández (born June 25, 1972) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball primarily as a first baseman, from 1993 to 2009, most prominently as a member of the Toronto ...

was offended when Bernazard—a fellow Puerto Rican—attempted to gain an advantage in wooing Delgado to the Mets by utilizing what Delgado termed "street Spanish." Delgado was heavily critical in public of the Mets negotiating tactics. He reportedly referred to Bernazard as "the highest-paid translator on the planet" after meeting him and Minaya for a face-to-face negotiating session at baseball's Winter Meetings. Bernazard, who was known for his flamboyant antics around the Mets offices and Shea Stadium, downplayed the incident. Bernazard came under scrutiny again during the 2008 season, when it was reported that he was allegedly the person who orchestrated the firing of then Mets

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Willie Randolph William Larry Randolph (born July 6, 1954) is an American former professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager. During an 18-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played from 1975 to 1992 for six different teams, most notabl ...

. Bernazard came under renewed scrutiny in late July during the 2009 season after removing his shirt and challenging several

Binghamton Mets The Binghamton Rumble Ponies are an American Minor League Baseball team based in Binghamton, New York. The team, which plays in the Eastern League, is the Double-A affiliate of the New York Mets major-league club. The Rumble Ponies play in Mira ...

players to fights. The same week Bernazard had another tirade at

Citi Field Citi Field is a baseball stadium located in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in New York City, United States. It opened in 2009 and is the home field of Major League Baseball's New York Mets. The stadium was built as a replacement for the adjacent ...

when a

Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The f ...

scout occupied a seat that he wanted and one of his deputies suggested to him that he wait until the end of the half inning, prompting Bernazard to become angry. In addition, Bernazard had an angry confrontation with Mets closer Francisco Rodríguez on the team bus, while returning to the team's hotel after an 11–0 loss to the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

. The Mets organization issued a statement by general manager Minaya saying, in part, "I spoke with Tony ernazardthis morning and informed him of my decision to terminate his employment with the Mets", confirming an earlier report. At the press conference announcing the firing, Minaya angrily challenged the accuracy of past news reports, claiming that ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'' reporter Adam Rubin, who initially broke the story about Bernazard challenging Binghamton Mets players to a fight, was angling for a position in the Mets organization, a claim Rubin denied. Omar Minaya fired Bernazard from the Mets on Monday July 27, 2009.

Post-Mets career

In October 2009,

Adam Rubin Adam Rubin is a #1 New York Times best selling author of children's books. Many of his stories feature animals or food and several contain interactive elements. His books have sold over one million copies. Rubin graduated from Washington Universi ...

reported in his blog that Bernazard was close to joining the renowned sports agency Boras Corp., led by baseball super agent

Scott Boras Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Saska ...

. Bernazard later denied this in an interview with

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

Ken Rosenthal Ken Rosenthal (born September 19, 1962) is an American sportswriter and reporter. He serves as a field reporter for ''Fox Major League Baseball'' since 2005, and was an in-studio reporter for MLB Network from 2009 to 2022. Since August 2017, h ...

. In the interview (dated April 27, 2010), Bernazard claimed that the media reports about his behavior were untrue. He also claimed that the Mets organization did not support him because the team needed a scapegoat for the 2009 season. As far as his career was concerned, Bernazard was not employed by a baseball team at that time, despite the fact that Bernazard claims he "had some calls" from unspecified sources at the end of December 2009. He additionally claimed that he " asn'tbeen looking for a job."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernazard, Tony 1956 births Living people Chicago White Sox players Cleveland Indians players Denver Bears players Detroit Tigers players Fukuoka Daiei Hawks players Kinston Expos players Major League Baseball second basemen Major League Baseball players from Puerto Rico Montreal Expos players Nankai Hawks players Nippon Professional Baseball second basemen Nippon Professional Baseball third basemen Oakland Athletics players People from Caguas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Canada Puerto Rican expatriate baseball players in Japan Quebec Metros players Seattle Mariners players West Palm Beach Expos players

Playing career

Front office career

Post-Mets career

See also

References

External links