Josh Bard

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**Josh Bard**
Major League Baseball debut
San Diego Padres — No. 28
Catcher
Bats: Switch	Throws: Right
August 23, 2002 for the Cleveland Indians
Selected MLB statistics (through 2006)
AVG	.270
RBI	101
HR	22
Former teams
Cleveland Indians (2002-2005) Boston Red Sox (2006) San Diego Padres (2006-present)

Joshua David Bard (born March 30, 1978, in Ithaca, New York) is a catcher for the San Diego Padres. He played for the Cleveland Indians from 2002 through 2005, and was acquired by the Boston Red Sox on January 27, 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 Greenwood Village, 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 team Buffalo.

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

In 2003, Bard posted a .244 average with 8 home runs and 36 RBI in 91 games played. He spent the first half of 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 of 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 5th, 2006. In an April 26, 2006, game against the Cleveland Indians, Josh Bard gave up 4 passed balls, giving him a total of 10 passed balls in his first 5 games.

On May 1, 2006, he was traded to the San Diego Padres along with Red Sox minor league pitcher Cla Meredith for Doug 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 inexplicably became one of the best hitters in the major leagues. A lifetime .240 hitter before joining the Padres, Bard hit an astonishing .338 in 231 at-bats the rest of the season as the backup to Mike Piazza.