Josh Bard

Infobox MLB player


caption=Bard, playing for the Padres in 2007
width=222
name=Josh Bard
position=Catcher
team=Free Agent
number=
bats=Switch
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1978|3|30
birthplace=city-state|Ithaca|New York
debutdate=August 23
debutyear=2002
debutteam=Cleveland Indians
statyear=September 26, 2008
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.265
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=28
stat3label=Runs batted in
stat3value=168
teams=
*Cleveland Indians (by|2002-by|2005)
*Boston Red Sox (by|2006)
*San Diego Padres (by|2006-by|2008)

Joshua David Bard (born March 30, 1978 in Ithaca, New York) is a catcher in Major League Baseball who is currently a free agent. His last MLB team was the San Diego Padres.

Bard played for the Cleveland Indians from mlby|2002 through mlby|2005, and was acquired by the Boston Red Sox on January 27, mlby|2006, along with outfielder Coco Crisp and reliever David Riske, for reliever Guillermo Mota, third base prospect Andy Marte, and catcher Kelly Shoppach. Bard is a switch-hitter who throws right. He became the Red Sox's backup catcher during spring training 2006 following the retirement of John Flaherty.

Bard attended Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colorado, and was a two-time All-American while playing for Texas Tech. Bard is married to his high-school sweetheart and has two children.

At the time, Bard was one of the best catching prospects, and he also played third base occasionally with Triple-A Buffalo.

On August 23, 2002, Bard hit a walk-off home run in his Major League debut for Cleveland (against Seattle), becoming the second player to accomplish the feat in his ML debut (Billy Parker, CAL, 9/9/71 vs. Milwaukee).

In mlby|2003, Bard posted a .244 average with 8 home runs and 36 RBI in 91 games played. He spent the first half of mlby|2004 on the disabled list due to an abdominal injury, and then spent nearly the rest of the season in the minors. In 2005, he returned to the Indians roster, backing up Víctor Martínez.

As a member of the Boston Red Sox in April 2006, his primary duties were catching knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield. In the beginning of the season, this proved to be a challenging task, as Bard gave up 3 passed balls in his first appearance for the Red Sox on April 5, 2006. In an April 26, 2006, game against the Cleveland Indians, Bard gave up 4 passed balls, giving him a total of 10 passed balls in his first 5 games.

On May 1, 2006, days after Doug Mirabelli was traded from Boston to the San Diego Padres, Bard was traded to the Padres along with minor league pitcher Cla Meredith for Mirabelli. He made his first appearance for the Padres on May 5, 2006, against the Chicago Cubs.

Upon his arrival in the National League, Bard became one of the best hitters in the major leagues. A lifetime .240 hitter before joining the Padres, Bard hit .338 in 231 at-bats the rest of the season as the backup to Mike Piazza. However, the hot hitting did not continue the following season, when Bard became the Padres' starting catcher, with Rob Bowen as his backup. On June 20, mlby|2007, Bowen was traded to the Chicago Cubs for catcher Michael Barrett. This significantly cut Bard's playing time. [ [http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070620&content_id=2038291&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd Cubs deal Barrett to Padres] ] In October 2008, Bard left the Padres and became a free agent. [cite news|last=Brock|first=Corey|title=Padres part ways with Bard, Estes|date=2008-10-06|url=http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20081006&content_id=3598645&vkey=news_sd&fext=.jsp&c_id=sd|accessdate=2008-10-06]

Bard was behind the plate on August 4, 2007, for a home game against the San Francisco Giants. He was catching for pitcher Clay Hensley when Hensley gave up Barry Bonds' 755th home run, which tied Bonds with Hank Aaron for most career home runs.

References

External links

*baseball-reference|id=b/bardjo01
*espn mlb|id=6987|name=Josh Bard
* [http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player.jsp?player_id=408036 Bard's Profile]