Carlos Bernier


Carlos Eugene Bernier Rodríguez was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played one full season as an outfielder in Major League Baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Born in Juana Díaz, Puerto Rico, he threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed.

Career

Bernier's professional career extended for 17 seasons. Carlos Bernier is the all-time leaders in at bat in the LBPPR with 4,126 and led in stolen bases from 1949 to 1953 and in the 1955-56 season, to lead that stat with 286. His 41 stolen bases in the 1949-50 season lasted as the record until 1980-81. In the LBPPR Bernier is also first with 86 triples and second in hits and runs. On May 2, 1953, Bernier hit three triples in a game. He was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Pacific League Hall of Fame in 2004.
In addition to the 105 games he played for the 1953 [Pittsburgh Pirates season|1953 Pirates], he appeared in an even 2,200 games in minor league baseball, with 1,725 games played at the highest levels then in existence. Bernier batted.298 with nearly 2,300 hits and exactly 200 home runs as a minor leaguer. In 1952, Bernier was named the PCL's Rookie of the Year by the Pacific Coast League Baseball Writers Association.
For the 1953 Pirates, Bernier collected 66 hits, including seven doubles, eight triples, and three home runs, in 310 at bats. On May 2, Bernier tied a modern major league record with three triples in a game, becoming the 15th player to perform this feat in the post-Deadball era, and the first since Ben Chapman in 1939, as well the first National League player since Lance Richbourg in 1929. In the Pacific League, Bernier had a.302 average and won the batting title in 1962.
In 1989, Bernier committed suicide by hanging. He was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Pacific League Hall of Fame in 2004.

Articles

  • Cane, Paul. . The Madera Tribune. June 4, 1952.
  • UP. . The Madera Tribune. July 24, 1952.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. August 16, 1952.
  • Cane, Paul. . The Madera Tribune. September 6, 1952.
  • Biederman, Les. . The Pittsburgh Press. March 29, 1953.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. May 3, 1953.
  • Boyd, Jerry. . The San Bernardino Sun. May 5, 1964.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. June 14, 1954.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. June 15, 1954.
  • UP. . The Madera Tribune. August 12, 1954.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. August 13, 1954.
  • . Jet. August 26, 1954.
  • Bragan, Bobby. . The Plattsburgh Press-Republican. February 1, 1955.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. March 4, 1955.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. March 26, 1955.
  • Hayes, Peter. . The Madera Tribune. April 28, 1955.
  • . Jet. May 26, 1955.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. June 8, 1955.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. September 2, 1955.
  • . The Desert Sun. March 28, 1956.
  • Associated Press. . The Plattsburgh Press-Republican. April 24, 1956.
  • UP. . The San Bernardino Sun. August 29, 1956.
  • Bouchette, Ed. . The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 15, 1987.
  • Treder, Steve. . Hardball Times. August 25, 2004.
  • Guzzardi, Joe. . Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 14, 2013.
  • Totti, Xavier F. . Centro Voices. February 5, 2016.

    Books

  • Van Hyning, Thomas V. Puerto Rico's Winter League: A History of Major League Baseball's Launching Pad. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. ..