A year ago today, Tony Fernandez passed away.
We had reaction here and here and here.
I wish we could see into a universe where Fernandez wasn’t part of the Carter/Alomar trade (can you imagine a middle of the infield with Alomar and Fernandez). It would have been great to have had Fernandez as a lifetime Blue Jay. I’d like to think he would be in the Hall of Fame if he had been.
We’ll be writing about him in detail sometime next month, but let me say there were few players I tried to imitate more. That sidearm flip throw, that seemed always to be on target, no matter what angle his body was at was a thing of beauty. The batting stance I didn’t try to copy, he had such a light grip on the bat, I could never make that work.
I still think he was the smoothest shortstop I ever watched.
My favorite memories of him were the rare moments he would allow himself a little smile after making an amazing play.
With the bat, he could slap the ball all over the field.