Friday, December 12, 2008

Vic Bernal

In front of Petco Park is Tony Gwynn Plaza, surrounding a bronze statue of Mr. Padre are thousands of bricks inscribed with various sentiments. One of them reads "Tony Gwynn, True Competitor in Memory of Vic Bernal #39, Love Kathy, Drew and Matt"

Vic Bernal was drafted by both the Twins and Padres in 1975. The Twins drafted him in January, but for some reason that pick was voided and then the Padres drafted him in June in the 6th round of the draft. He made his major debut April 6, 1977 against the Cincinati Reds. During the '77 season he went 1-1 in 15 games with an 5.31 ERA. That is the extent of Vic's major league career. I can't find anymore information about him. This is the only card of him that I have ever seen. It is from a set of schedule cards that was issued by the team. I have several of the cards signed and some of them it is the only card I have of the player. I sent this to Mr. Bernal several years ago, at least 2 years ago, he passed away at age 52 on September 2, 2006.

3 comments:

zman40 said...

Those are some nice looking cards. That's cool how you have gotten some of them autographed.

night owl said...

I always loved those cards.

darnelle said...

Vic was an amazing man! A great baseball coach, father, husband and friend. He is missed