1-1 With Tony Bernazard

My usually-stellar memory is a bit hazy today.

Back in my newspaper-reporting days, I remember covering a Rider-Seton Hall baseball game in which one of the Seton Hall players was Tony Bernazard Jr.

Tony Sr. was at the game and that part I recall distinctly. I know I conversed with Tony Jr., who being from Princeton, was local for our circulation.

I seem to remember approaching Tony Sr. as well and my inkling is to say he wasn't particularly pleasant, but I'm wondering if that's clouded by all the stories I've seen the last few days. I've heard/read that he isn't the nicest man around (anyone remember the Carlos Delgado quote about Bernazard being the highest-paid translator in the majors?).

There's one area in which Tony Sr. was good in a 1-1 scenario and that was on the baseball diamond itself.

Tony Sr. had four walk-off RBI in his major-league career. Three were singles and one was a sacrifice fly. Here's the weird part.

All four came in games that were tied, 1-1 at the time.

How odd is that?

True Metazards know...Tony Bernazard's first career go-ahead home run came against the Mets, a 3-run shot off Craig Swan in the 7th inning of a 9-4 10-inning Expos win on July 6, 1980.

Comments

The best Mets ejections I know

When you think of the Mets and famous ejections, I'm guessing you first think of the famous Bobby Valentine mustache game, when after Valentine got tossed, he returned to the dugout in disguise. You know it. You love it. I remember being amused when I asked Bobby V about it while we were working on Baseball Tonight, how he simply said "It worked. We won the game." (true) But the Bobby V mustache game of June 9, 1999 is one of many, many memorable Mets ejection stories. And now thanks to Retrosheet and the magic of Newspapers.com , we have a convenient means for being able to share them. Ever since Retrosheet's David Smith recently announced that the Retrosheet ejection database was posted online , I've been a kid in a candy store. I've organized the data and done some lookups of media coverage around the games that interested me post. Those newspaper accounts fill in a lot of blanks. Without further ado (and with more work to do), here are some of my findings ...

The 'Duca of Earl (and walk-offs)

If I told you that the Mets had just obtained a guy who is a career .316 hitter with runners in scoring position? How about if I told you that the Mets just traded for a hitter who has consistently ranked among the toughest in baseball to strike out? Or if I mentioned that the Mets just dealt for a player who was selected to the NL All-Star team the last three seasons, with the last honor coming via a vote by his peers? So, although he's on the down side age wise, his throwing arm isn't as good as it used to be, and he doesn't provide much power, there are a lot of good things that Paul Lo Duca brings to the New York Mets. For example: He'll sacrifice his body for the good of the team The Dodgers and Braves squared off on August 23, 2002 and Lo Duca made an impact both on the start and finish of this game. Three pitches after being dusted by Greg Maddux, Lo Duca made him pay with a first-inning home run. The Braves rallied to tie the game, 3-3 in the ninth, but their bu...

Been There, Won That

The Dodgers had 19 hits in their loss to the Mets on Thursday night in a game that, no offense (pardon the ironic pun), was excruciating to watch for many, many reasons, none of which I feel like getting into at this hour. Willie Randolph summed it up in his press conference afterwards, saying simply "It's not fun!" I wonder if Tom Hanks, Alyssa Milano, Ray Romano and Kareeem Abdul-Jabaar (all in attendance) stuck around for the finish? I do wish to note briefly, again with the aid of Baseball-Reference, that the last time the Dodgers had 19 hits and lost a game, it was to the Mets. The difference between that game and this one was that this contest, of May 24, 1973, lasted an interminable 19 innings., with the Mets winning, 7-3. Rusty Staub's fifth hit of the game drove in the go-ahead run. Ken Boswell added an RBI single and Ed Kranepool salted the game away with a two-run double. Some other noteworthy anecdotes from a quick box score gleaning: * Like Thursday's...

Mets Walk-Offs And Minutiae

Search This Blog