Carlos Bernier

Carlos Eugene Bernier Rodríguez (January 28, 1927 – April 6, 1989) 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 (1948–1964). 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 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. He was inducted into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame in 1999 and the Pacific League Hall of Fame in 2004.