LET'S NOT FORGET TONY FERNANDEZ & HIS TIME IN THE BRONX

Tony Fernández was more than just a baseball player; he was an artist on the field, a magician with the glove, and a professional to his core. His career spanned nearly two decades, and while he’ll always be most closely tied to the Toronto Blue Jays, his time in pinstripes proved that greatness has no home—it travels wherever the player goes.

It’s hard not to marvel at Fernández’s early career. With the Blue Jays, he was unstoppable, setting records, winning Gold Gloves, and dazzling fans with his smooth, almost effortless style of play. His bat was no slouch, either—hitting over .300 four times and leading the league with 17 triples in 1990. When the Jays traded him to the Padres in 1991, it felt like the end of an era. But for Fernández, it was just another chapter in a story that was far from finished.

He bounced around a bit after that, playing for the Padres and Mets before a trade brought him back to Toronto in 1993. It was a homecoming, and Fernández didn’t disappoint. He was instrumental in helping the Blue Jays clinch their second World Series, driving in nine runs in the Fall Classic—a record for shortstops. But after another stint with the Blue Jays and a solid year with the Reds, it was time for something new. 

In 1995, Fernández signed with the New York Yankees, and his journey took a turn into pinstripe history.

Joining the Yankees in the mid-90s meant stepping into a team on the verge of something special. Fernández, already a veteran, brought stability and leadership to the shortstop position. And while Derek Jeter was looming in the minors, the Yankees weren’t about to hand the job to a kid fresh out of AAA. Fernández was exactly what they needed—proven, reliable, and still capable of magic.

One of those magical moments came on September 3, 1995, in the Bronx. Fernández put on a show, going 4-for-5 against the Oakland A’s and hitting for the cycle.

 

It was the kind of performance that reminded everyone why Tony Fernández was a star. Only 10 players in Yankees history had done it before him, and his cycle felt like a moment of triumph in a season full of ups and downs.

Unfortunately, Fernández’s Yankees story is also intertwined with one of baseball’s most famous transitions. In spring training of 1996, Fernández suffered an elbow injury, sidelining him for the season. It was a tough break for a player who still had plenty to give, but it also paved the way for Derek Jeter to take the stage. While some players might have harbored bitterness, that wasn’t Fernández’s style. He handled the situation with the same grace and professionalism that defined his entire career.

When Fernández left the Yankees, he didn’t just walk away from a team—he left behind a legacy. He became the last player to wear the iconic No. 6 before Joe Torre donned it as manager and eventually had it retired. Even in a relatively short stint, Fernández had etched his name into Yankees lore.

The rest of his career saw him continue to play for several teams, always bringing his signature style and determination to the game. Age eventually caught up with him, as it does with all players, but Fernández never stopped being a gamer. He battled through life off the field as well, facing a diagnosis of polycystic kidney disease in 2017 with the same quiet resilience he showed in his playing days.

When Fernández passed away in 2020, it was a heartbreaking moment for baseball fans everywhere. He was more than just a player; he was a man who carried himself with dignity, a teammate who lifted those around him, and an athlete who left everything he had on the field.

Yes, he’ll always be a Blue Jays legend, but for a time, Tony Fernández was a Yankee. And in that time, he showed why he was one of the best to ever play the game. The Bronx got a glimpse of his brilliance, and it’s something Yankees fans won’t forget. He wasn’t just the guy who came before Derek Jeter. He was Tony Fernández—a player who made his mark wherever he went.

--Alvin Izzo

BYB Yankee History Contributor

TONY FERNANDEZ PASSED AWAY

He was a New York Yankee, but he was a really great player with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Today it's being reported that Tony Fernandez has passed away.

MLB Trade Rumors writes:

"Former five-time All-Star Tony Fernandez passed away Saturday night at age 57...Fernandez suffered a brain stroke while he was already in hospital receiving treatment for complications from kidney disease, and Fernandez was placed in an induced coma two weeks ago. 

Fernandez appeared in part of 17 Major League seasons from 1983-2001, suiting up for seven different teams but making his biggest impact with the Blue Jays. Over four separate stints with Toronto, Fernandez played 1450 of his 2158 MLB games in a Jays uniform, and is the franchise’s all-time leader in games played, hits (1583), singles (1160), triples (72), and bWAR (37.5). A switch-hitting offensive contributor who hit .288/.347/.399 over 8793 career plate appearances, Fernandez was even more highly regarded for his defense, winning four consecutive Gold Gloves at shortstop between 1986-89."

With all this talk of the Astros cheating scandal... obviously the biggest story right now, we can't forget about the other important things in life. We say a prayer for Tony's family from us here at BYB.

Rest in Peace friend.

RONALD TORREYES IS RED HOT!

I absolutely love watching Ronald Torreyes play baseball!  Over the years, I always seem to gravitate toward the little guy who contributes to a team of giants because for years as a kid in Little League, I was that guy. Bunting my way to get on, a singles hitter primarily, but made sure I was always in scoring position and ready to contribute in some way.  I was important to me that I let my coaches know what I could do.  Torreyes is that way. 

When I watched the Yankees play in the early 90's, I loved watching a Yankee shortstop by the name of Andy Stankiewicz play for instance.  The last few weeks, I've been keeping an eye on Ronald Torreyes.  There are undertones of Stanky... it gives me a flutter in my stomach.  I oddly reminds me of the youth movement of the New York Yankees all those years ago.  Don't forget... after Stanky came a guy named Tony Fernandez, and then of course... Derek Jeter.

Torreyes is a small framed, hardworking ballplayer and I feel like every game he's playing, he's either making a dynamic play at 3rd base, scoring or hitting a triple.  I wrote about him last night:

Don't under estimate Ronald Torreyes. The dude can play.

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) August 27, 2016

Lo Hud had alittle nugget about Torreyes as well:

"He is, remarkably, the Yankees' everyday third baseman these days. He's started five of the past seven games, largely because he hit 9 for 16 during the past week's West Coast road trip.

'We’re riding a hot hand, is what we’re doing,' manager Joe Girardi said. 'We got a pretty good idea of what he is, but he was on fire on that trip. He had 10, 11 hits, something like that. So we’re riding a hot hand.'"

And last night, Torreyes was 2-4 with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI.   And the best part is Torreyes isn't a member of the youth movement that the Yankees groomed by draft.  He came over from the Dodgers, a 23 year old these days willing to do whatever he can to help.  This season, in 98 at bats he has 6 doubles, 3 triples and 1 home run batting .286.  While those number don't appear to be All-Star numbers, it's clear he's a singles hitter, just add them up and he's helping his club by getting on base any chance he can. An unselfish player... dedicated to "Team."

And right about now, with guys like Gary Sanchez, Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, Tyler Austin, Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge surrounding him to knock runs in... this is the type of mix we need.  Youth, mixed in with veterans, the perfect formula.

It's funny.  The Yankees did this once... it was right around 1993... 1994... 1995. 

In 1996... they won the whole damn thing. 

Food for thought.

NUNEZ IS CASHMAN'S SHORTSTOP MISTAKE

On Ian O'Connor's ESPN's Radio Show the other day, Brian Cashman made it clear that the future for Eduardo Nunez on the Yankees is shortstop. I spit out my afternoon coffee.

Cash said "I look at Nunez and his value as a shortstop...I don't look at Nunez being valuable in an everyday role other than shortstop, and we have a shortstop. In terms of everyday status for Nuney, I don't see one as long as Derek Jeter is sitting there... All the calls of putting him in left field, I don't understand." Read the full piece HERE.

All those "calls" for Nuney in the outfield are from Bleeding Yankee Blue. You're welcome.  The fact that Nunez is probably the future shortstop of hte New York Yankees is absolutely ridiculous. Nunez isn't an infielder and if he truly is, well then, he sucks. Be honest Cash, you have to be willing to unload this guy for pitching right? Or maybe you're just making an argument for Nunez so he becomes a trading chip for another team? Why else would you be "faking it?" That guy can't command an infield and you need that after Jeter leaves.

Eduardo Nunez is and should be a left fielder. I wrote that in WHY NOT MAKE NUNEZ AN OUTFIELDER? and it makes perfect sense.  There are many reasons why, but with his speed, he could adapt well and over time learn to catch a fly ball rather than grounders in one of the most important positions in the infield.  Can you imagine Derek Jeter retiring and Nunez coming in coming from a fan perspective? What a downgrade. I love Cashman but he's got this wrong.

(In Photo: Eduardo Nunez)
In 112 games, he made 20 errors in 2011 and in 2012, he made a share of them again, including a few that were costly...read HERE.  He probably would have made more if his thumb wasn't giving him so much trouble for half of his minor league season, read HERE. But let's not forget, the Yankees sent Nuney down to the minors to practice. Clearly his fielding is a big concern or the Yankees wouldn't have done that.

I love his bat, I love his speed, but as I suggested this summer, let him adapt to left field, you can hide him there and keep working with him in the meantime. Then, we can try to find our next shortstop after Jeter retires. For my money, it's not Nunez.

(In Photo: Tony Fernandez)
To tell you the truth, I am so down on Nuney manning Short, I'd even pay Tony Fernandez a few bucks to come out of retirement, year's later...that's how much I hate this idea.

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WHY ANDY STANKIEWICZ MADE ME BELIEVE

Not too many remember Andy Stankiewicz but growing up when he manned the shortstop position (and sometimes second base) for the New York Yankees, I remember little Phil Rizzuto once complimenting little Andy Stankiewicz in his former position and I remember many Yankee fans saying he reminded us of Phil too, read HERE. That in turn had me thinking about little me. No one expected Phil Rizzuto to be a successful shortstop for the New York Yankees because he was small, but he became that and did it better than many of the greats. Many saw that in Stankiewicz, the little train that could.

Rizzuto was 5”6”, Andy Stankiewicz was 5'9" (although I think it was more like 5'7".) I too was 5’7”. Watching and hearing about the little guy making a difference in the field, especially for a little guy like me gave me confidence… you start to realize that big things happen to little guys who don’t give up. It’s a life thing and guys like Rizzuto and Stankiewicz played by those rules and succeeded.

Sure, Andy Stankiewicz was never close to becoming a Hall of Famer, but he was a New York Yankee and while he was merely “filler” before guys like Tony Fernandez and Derek Jeter showed up, he filled his roll wonderfully and the players loved him as well as the fans.

During Stankiewicz’s short Yankee career, he had these numbers:

2 years, 107-409, 22 2B, 25 RBIs, .262 AVG

There is no doubt that the numbers don’t tell the full story for me. It was his ability that really blew me away. He went up to the plate like was 6 feet tall and for a short while, I remember the fans really enjoyed watching the guy work… he never gave up, he wanted to win all the time. In some regards he reminded me of guys like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada. That home grown talent mentality that we just fall in love with as Yankee fans.

I don’t know why I started writing about Stanky, but I just got sentimental I guess. I was on Ebay searching around for Yankees memorabilia and I stumbled across Stanky's Rookie card. Sometimes I think about these guys and I have fond memories. Andy Stankiewicz is one of those guys that as a little guy myself, I enjoyed rooting for him.

Glasses up ladies and gentlemen… a toast to the little guy with a big heart… Andy Stankiewicz.

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"WHO ARE YOU...BOBBY MEACHAM?"

Bobby Meacham was never a huge success story in the Yankees organization. Let’s face it, if you look through your baseball cards from the 80’s, you have dozens featuring Bobby Meacham who posted a career .236 average. It’s hard to believe that he was a Yankees shortstop and second baseman, but if you think about it, for many years, the Yankees really didn’t have a solid shortstop. Sure, we had Tony Fernandez in 1996, and he was great, but his career was over at that point. Before that, one of my favorites, Andy Stankiewicz, but it was clear back in 1992 that the Yankees were just using the scrappy shortstop as a place holder, there was never a long term plan for Andy. That being said, before that Spike Owen was there and before that there were others, but there was also a guy named Bobby Meacham who was given a shot to be an infielder for the New York Yankees.

It doesn’t matter what conversation I’m having with my buddies about the 80’s Yankees, no matter what… Bobby Meacham’s name always comes up. It’s usually in a comical discussion, for example, if we were playing softball and one of my bud’s is sluggish in the field, we’d yell “Who are you Bobby Meacham?” because if you remember Bobby, you remember he was never an All-Star. He tried and the Yankee fans embraced all their Yankees, even Bobby, but it was never a good scene when he was out there.

(In Photo: Bobby Meacham being tagged by Carlton Fisk)

I remember he and Dale Berra rounding third base one game and one after the other, they got tagged out trying to cross home plate like it was little league. Billy Martin later said "I’ve never seen a play like that in grammar school, let alone the major leagues." Yet, the New York Yankees held onto Bobby, believed in him and always hoped he’d turn it around, at least that’s what it looked like to me.

Years later Bobby Meacham was a coach for teams around Major League Baseball even becoming a third base coach for the Yankees and Girardi in 2008, but when the Yankees didn’t make it to the playoffs, he was cut loose. I haven’t seen him since. It doesn’t matter, he’s still the name that pops up whenever me and my buds talk 80’s baseball trivia and will always be.

One thing you have to give credit to Bobby for though is never giving up, and maybe that why I was fascinated with the guy. Bobby Meacham may be the brunt of our jokes when it comes to non-Yankee greats, but the guy had the courage to never quit and that says a lot when you wear the pinstripes. Sure he wasn’t a Hall of Famer, but he was a New York Yankee and believe it or not, that says a lot, you have to break through a lot of layers to make it to the Bigs and he did. So, while this post sounds like a negative, it’s far from it. A salute to Bobby Meacham, long retired, but not forgotten. Thanks for the memories Bobby.

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