Tony Fernandez inducted into Ontario Sports Hall of Hall of Fame
By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
The year was 1974.
The manager was Tony LaRussa.
And the young bat boy was confident.
“You know, some day I’ll play shortstop for you,” a 12-year-old Tony Fernandez told LaRussa.
And 13 years later LaRussa, then a coach with the American League, wrote Fernandez’s name on the lineup card for the All-Star game in Oakland.
Fernandez’s parents lived just behind the right field fence of Estadio Tetelo Vargas in San Pedro de Macoris. So the park and the team, the Estrellas Orientales, were a natural magnet to the youngster.
Back then young Fernandez limped fielding ground balls from LaRussa -- he was waiting surgery to have a bone chip removed from his right knee. Fernandez served on the grounds crew and also loaded equipment for trips.
“I’d do anything to stay in the park so I could watch for free,” Fernandez, recalled. “I remember (LaRussa) well. He gave me affirmation, I would have loved to have played a season for him before retiring.”
The Blue Jays and scout Epy Guerrero, not LaRussa’s A’s, signed Fernandez in 1981. The next year was his first big-league camp in Dunedin.
“I remember walking in, seeing Big John Mayberry, Otto Velez, Dave Stieb,” Fernandez said. “It was intimidating playing against those big guys. Having Alfredo Griffin helped.”
Growing up idolizing flashy infielder Pepe Frias, Fernandez called the 1993 Jays the best team he was with, with 1987 (final-day losers to the Detroit Tigers) and 1985 (AL East champs) teams close behind. Then general manager Pat Gillick called Fernandez the team MVP in 1985.
Fernandez retired with 2,276 hits playing the majority of games in five of his final six seasons elsewhere than shortstop. In 1999, he passed Julio Franco as the all-time Dominican hit leader. The ageless Franco passed him again.
“The Houston Astros were my island’s team when I was a boy,” Fernandez said. “The Astros had Cesar Cedeno, their games were on TV. Then, the Reds were popular with Cesar Geromino and Davey Concepcion.
“The Dodgers had Pedro Guerrero and Manny Mota. But there was a time when the Jays were the team with Damo Garcia, George Bell, Alfredo and myself.”
Fernandez had a career .288 average, hitting over .300 four times. He holds franchise marks in games played (1,450), hits (1,583) and triples (72). Without the return of Fernandez, after shortstop Dick Schofield, suffered season-ending surgery, the Jays would not have repeated in 1993.
While Gillick decided on bringing Fernandez back after the Schofield injury, Guerrero played a role.
“My best friend, Pat Gillick phoned me at 3 a.m. and woke me up,” Guerrero said. “He told me to get on the first flight to New York and go to Shea Stadium.”
Fernandez was with the Mets and in manager Dallas Green’s crowded dog house.
“I didn’t have a field pass, so a Dominican radio announcer -- Billy Arroyo -- got me past the guards and I talked to Tony,” Guerrero said. Gillick wanted to know about Fernandez’s .225 average. Was he ready to play?
“I told Tony ‘you have play for us, we are in bad shape, we have Alfredo, but we need an everyday shortstop,” Guerrero said.
Fernandez came to the Jays hitting .306 the rest of the way and .326 with 10 RBIs against the Chicago White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies as the Jays repeated.
Fernandez’s first scheduled start in the minors was not an indicator of how his career would unfold.
“Tony went for a walk, didn’t show at the hotel until half an hour after we left,” said Guerrero, who signed Fernandez and accompanied him from the Dominican Republic to the Jays single-A Kinston affiliate in 1981.
“Fred Manrique played short since Tony was late. Then I hit him.”
You hit him?
“With my tongue,” Guerrero explained of the tongue lashing he gave the 19-year-old. “My No. 1 rule: be on time.”
Fernandez was on time after that playing 17 seasons in the majors, 12 with the Jays, playing more games than anyone to wear the uniform -- from Glenn and Russ Adams to Gregg Zaun and Eddie Zozky.
Fernandez’s journey from the Dominican sandlots to the minors to a 17-year major-league career to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and now the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.