Carlos Bernier Blazed a Slow Path to the Majors
Even one perfect baseball card doesn't do him justice
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1953 Topps Carlos Bernier (#243) - Card of the Day
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The way the old-timers tell it, Carlos Bernier just might have been a Hall of Famer if he had been born in the 1980s instead of the 1920s…or with Jackie Robinson’s demeanor instead of the fire-and-brimstone he carried into the world.
Born in Puerto Rico in 1927, Bernier first started to gain attention for his baseball skills in the United States in 1948 when he hit .248 and stole 24 bases for Port Chester in the Colonial League.
He really got his feet under him in 1949 while playing for the Bristol Owls, batting .336 with 15 home runs, a Colonial-best 136 runs scored, and a league-record 89 stolen bases.
Bernier wasn’t quite as gaudy with his production in 1950 and 1951, but he still managed 50-plus steals each of those summers. He was the talk of the baseball world, or at least one of their favorite subjects, and the Pirates selected him in the December 1951 minor league draft.
Bernier was nearly 25 years old by that time, but observers of the day insist that he would have been in the majors by then if not for his fiery temper. Bernier’s SABR Bio, penned by Charles F. Faber, runs through several of his dust-ups, but suffice it to say the man didn’t suffer indignities in silence.
And, as a black man from a Hispanic Caribbean country in the 1940s and 1950s trying to break into major league baseball, Bernier was no stranger to indignities.
At any rate, Bernier kept the pedal to the metal with the Hollywood Stars in 1952, batting .301 with 65 stolen bases and 105 runs scored in a whopping 171 games played, mostly in the outfield.
The Stars won the Pacific Coast League championship, and Bernier was named PCL Rookie of the Year. It was just one of several minor league titles that Bernier helped his teams win over the course of his career.
With not much left to prove in the minors, Bernier looked like a decent bet to make the Pirates in 1953. He made good on that wager by heading north with the team out of Spring Training, then made his big league debut as a pinch hitter against the Giants at Forbes Field on April 22.
Bernier would stay with Pittsburgh all summer long and, by the end of his rookie season, he was appearing in wax packs across the land. Part of Topps’ third and final 1953 series, Bernier appeared on card #243 taking a whack-a-mole hack at some unseen baseball or varmint.
In all, Bernier played in 105 games for the Bucs that summer, hitting a modest .213 with more triples (eight) than doubles (seven) or home runs (three). He also stole 15 basses but was nabbed trying 14 times.
Among that mostly forgettable summer, when the Pirates went 50-104 and finished last in the National League by a wide margin, Bernier supplied at least a couple of memorable moments.
The first came when he stepped onto the diamond on April 22, becoming the first black player to play in a game for the Pirates (though that distinction is debated, with many sources crediting the milestone to Curt Roberts in 1954).
The second came when Bernier touched my Reds for three triples on May 2. That tied (with many others) the modern major league record for three-baggers in a game (two men knocked four triples in a contest in the 19th century).
Alas, the highlights were not enough to keep Bernier in the majors in 1954, and Pittsburgh sent him back to Hollywood to begin the new season. He never would make it back to the Pirates, or the major leagues.
He did make it back to collectors’ wax packs, though, landing on a 1954 Bowman card (#171).
After playing 11 more summers in the minors, Bernier spent one season (1965) in the Mexican League and then hung up his spikes. When his playing days were done, Bernier returned to Puerto Rico, where he reportedly struggled financially for decades.
Sadly, he took his own life in 1989.
But today is a day to celebrate the man who broke barriers on and off the field, and who left us with a gorgeous rookie card and a legacy worth remembering.
Because on January 28, 1927, Carlos Bernier came into the world with his spikes flying high and scorched his way into the baseball record book.
Drawing a Blank(s) on Larvell’s Hobbies?
Also born on this date, in 1950, was golf wiz Larvell Blanks. We gave him the old “birthday card” treatment in this post last year.
I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography
It’s always the right time to read more about Jackie Robinson and his impact on the game and society. I Never Had It Made has to be considered source, and required, material for all things Jackie, considering he wrote it (along with Alfred Duckett).
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