Dwight Bernard Saved the Best for Last

At least until a Doc(tor) tripped him up

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1983 Topps Dwight Bernard (#244) - Card of the Day

After barely losing the 1973 World Series to the A’s, the Mets entered 1974 with plenty of holes to fill. And, by mid-June, those deficiencies were on full display as New York tumbled to the bottom of the National League East standings.

Luckily for the Amazin’s, the June draft also happened to be in, uh, June. So they had a chance to start spackling in the holes, if not on the major league roster, at least in the farm system.

So they dug right in and started building their “rotation of the future,” first by making Cliff Speck the 17th overall pick in the draft, then by adding fellow right-hander Dwight Bernard in the second round. The rest of the Mets top-10 picks that year yielded one other major leaguer, John Pacella, yet another righty hurler.

New York did pick Pat Putnam in the 12th round, but he said no thanks.

It all sort of helps explain the Mets of the late 1970s and early 1980s, don’t you think?

Speck, for instance, didn’t make it to the majors until 1986, and that was for the Braves, his fifth franchise.

Pacella did spend parts of three seasons with the Mets, and his 4.83 ERA for the Flushes was downright amazing considering his overall 5.73 mark in the majors.

So that leaves Bernard, who got started nibbling away at the Mets minor league ladder right away and was ready for prime time four short years later. Along the way, he was used mostly as a starter, one who often walked more batters than he struck out, but who tended not to give up a ton of homers.

Then, in 1978, with his ERA jumping from the 3s to more than 4 in each of the previous two summers, Bernard was vanquished to the bullpen for the Triple-A Tidewater Tides.

The transitions worked miracles for Bernard’s bottom-line results, as he went 5-3 with a 1.64 ERA in 44 innings of long relief. He also put up his best K/BB ratio ever, at 1.40.

That was enough to get the call from the Mets, and manager Joe Torre brought Bernard in to relieve Craig Swan in the sixth inning against the Pirates on June 29.

The new guy gave up a triple to Ken Macha and an RBI sacrifice bunt to future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, but at least he had the first appearance under his belt. There would be 29 more mound trips for Bernard through the end of the season, including one start.

Overall, the rookie went 1-4 with a 4.31 ERA in the bigs that summer.

The next spring, Bernard shared a black-and-white Topps Mets Prospects card with Juan Berenguer and Dan Norman, and he also started the season back in New York.

He pitched pretty well through April, but a rough stretch in late May landed Bernard back in the minors in June and July before he was back in the the Big Apple for the stretch run. Overall on the year, he went 0-3, 4.70 for the Mets.

That winter, New York traded Bernard to the Brewers for Mark Bomback.

After spending all of 1980 and most of 1981 in the Milwaukee farm system, Bernard made it back to the show in September ‘81. He made six appearances, putting up a respectable 3.60 ERA, then pitched 2.1 scoreless innings in the Brew Crew’s ALDS loss to the Yankees.

His 1981 body of work earned Bernard a front-row seat for the Brewers’ magical 1982 season, when he threw 79 innings of 3.76 work across 47 appearances. He went 3-1 and even picked up six saves, then pitched one scoreless inning in each of the ALCS and World Series.

Even with his fairly prominent standing with the 1982 club, Bernard suddenly found himself on the outs at the end of Spring Training in 1983. The Brewers released him on March 28, rendering his wooly 1983 Topps card obsolete almost before it was printed.

Bernard eventually signed a minor league deal with the Astros, but never cracked the majors again. After a final run at Double-A for the Orioles in 1985, he was done as a player, embarking on a long coaching career.

Today, Dwight Bernard turns 72 years old.

First, Do Some Harm

Bernard played a part in two big games in Brewers’ history, both mop-up appearances in blowout losses.

First, manager Harvey Kuenn brought in Bernard to face the Orioles in the bottom of the eighth on the second-to-last day of the season. The Brew Crew entered that game with a chance to clinch the American League East, but Doc Medich and Moose Haas couldn’t keep Baltimore’s bats in control.

Bernard inherited a 7-3 deficit and then gave up four runs of his own en route to a 11-3 loss.

The Brewers recovered to win the East the next day, then took down the Angels in a five-game ALCS. Then, up three games to two against the Cardinals in the World Series, starter Don Sutton got battered for seven runs in Game 6 before Jim Slaton relieved him in the fifth.

Medich came on again in the sixth and gave up six more runs. He pitched a scoreless seventh before Bernard drew bottom-of-the-eighth duties again. This time, Bernard didn’t allow a hit or walk, but that mattered little with the score already 13-0.

That would be Bernard’s last major league appearance, a distinction he shared with Medich. The Brewers lost the Series the next day.

It was a stark ending for Medich, who had been a solid starter for several years in the 1970s. He also ended up with a classic “dad joke” headline on his 1976 Topps Traded card after the Yankees flipped him to the Pirates for Ken Brett, Dock Ellis, and Willie Randolph.

Read all about it right here.

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That’s a wrap for May — can you believe it?

It’s not early in the baseball season any more. We’re past the Barbaro Garbey Surprise Phase and solidly into the 1984 Reds Planning for Next Year Phase.

Hope your team is still on the right side of the optimism line, as long as they aren’t causing trouble for my Reds.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.

—Adam