Bard attended Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, 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 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 to accomplish the feat in his ML debut (Billy Parker, CAL, 9/9/71 vs. Milwaukee).