Tony Bernazard still wants to know why the Mets fired him last summer.
GM Omar Minaya’s former top lieutenant told FOXSports.com he never challenged minor-league players to a fight, and the events that led to his dismissal were greatly exaggerated.
“I’m telling you, I didn’t do anything wrong,” Bernazard said in the interview, his first comments on the subject since his firing.
Bernazard reportedly removed his shirt and challenged players at Double-A Binghamton to a fight because he was unhappy with their performance, but insists the incident never occurred as reported.
“I had a long-sleeve shirt on. I’m a bike rider,” Bernazard told FOX Sports writer Ken Rosenthal. “I had taken a long bike ride before I went to the meeting, a 55-mile bike ride.
“What happens when you exercise like that? Your body starts relieving that heat. I took the shirt off because I was hot. As simple as that. Maybe I took it off in the middle of the meeting. You’re upset, you get hot. All that [bleep], what is that? What a crime! I took my shirt off. By the way, I always wear a t-shirt.”
Bernazard remains out of baseball, and said he hasn’t been actively pursuing another job.