All-Time Indians: Tony Bernazard

One of the top players for the Tribe during an age mostly remembered for under-performing teams and massive disappointment, Tony Bernazard was a steady force at second base, playing four seasons in the midst of a ten year MLB career.

Bernazard was originally signed out of Puerto Rico by the Montreal Expos as a 17 year old in 1973, but didn’t make his debut until 1979 at the age of 22. After just two partial seasons in Montreal, he was traded to the White Sox, then three years later to Seattle and once more before the 1984 season to the Indians. During the formative part of his MLB career he had some decent numbers, batting .261 with 82 doubles, 31 home runs, 172 RBI and 48 steals in 486 games across five seasons.

Manny Trillo had been the Indians starting second baseman the previous season, but was sent to Montreal a few months before Bernazard came to Cleveland for Jack Perconte and Gorman Thomas. Bernazard had played 139 games the year before and would play 140 games as the Indians starter in 1984. This would be his worst season with the team, batting just .221 with 38 RBI and 44 runs with his 20 steals as one of few positives. He would repay the Indians for their patience in the next few seasons.

Maintaining his starting role into 1985, Bernazard joined short stop Julio Franco and Brook Jacoby as one of the team’s top offensive producers. Playing in 153 games, he set career bests with 59 RBI and 11 home runs and a .274 average, his best in a full season. The improved offense helped the Indians to win five more games than the previous year, leading to even bigger expectations for 1986.

While Bernazard would fulfill any personal expectations, the team as a whole would not, winning just 60 games, losing more than 60 for the third time in franchise history. Despite the overall failure, Bernazard batted over .300 for the first and only time in his career, also setting career homers with 17 and RBI with 73. Always more of a set up man rather than a run producer, he stole 17 bases, his fourth straight year with at least that many and scored a career high 73 runs. Given that his best year came in one of the worst in franchise history is particularly impressive and only Joe Carter had a better season for the Tribe offensively.

The 1986 season would be both the end of any success this current squad would have and the end of Bernazard as an Indian. The team won 84 games and finished fifth in the East, their highest win total and finish during the decade of the 80’s. At 30 years old, he had a season more like his first in Cleveland than his most recent as he batted .239 and stole just seven bases to four times caught, his worst rate as an Indian. After 79 games, he was traded again before the deadline to Oakland for Darrel Akerfelds and Brian Dorsett, a pair who played just 21 total games with the Indians.

While he would finish out the season playing at a slightly higher level, Bernazard was released at the end of the season and after being unable to find another American team, signed with the Nankai Hawks of Osaka in the Japanese Pacific League. After two more years in Japan with Fukuoka, he finished his career in 1991 with six games in Detroit.

While jumping from team to team masked some of Bernazard’s value, putting up solid offensive numbers for most of nine seasons at a prime defensive position is something of great worth in any age. Not the perfect defensive second basemen, he was still one of the best in Indians history and regularly was among the league leaders in games played, put outs, assists and range factor. At the same time, he finished his career with more than 1,000 games, 177 doubles, 75 home runs and almost 400 RBI.

After retiring from the playing field, Bernazard joined the Mets front office in 2004 staying until 2009 when he was let go after a controversial situation. Since then, he has remained out of the public eye and professional baseball.