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Home , Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams: A Musician OF A DIFFERENT STRIPE WRITTEN BY JUSTIN DAVIDSON

he capacity crowd at Yankee field for all those years? talking for him. Stadium rose to their feet and Soft-spoken and a self-described As a kid growing up in Puerto stood cheering for several min- loner during his first years in the Yan- Rico, Williams’ parents emphasized utes. Number 51 in pinstripes kee clubhouse in the early ’90s, Wil- education, athletics and music. One was back in center field for the liams worked hard to earn his right day, his dad, a merchant marine, Tfirst time since the team let him go in to stay while the Yankees were com- brought home a guitar and it imme- 2006 after a 16-year career. It was Sep- prised mostly of veterans who were on diately struck a chord with a young tember 28, 2008—the last game ever their way out. Gradually as the likes of Bernie. His dad taught him the basics, at The House that Ruth Built, where O’Neill, Posada, Rivera, Pettitte, Jeter and eventually Bernie would attend many men like him helped build a and many more came together to form a performing arts high school. Soon, stronger foundation. a cohesive unit, the Yankees formed a his dad bought him his own guitar— Ber-nie Will-iams! Clap clap, clap new dynasty. nothing fancy, but it got the job done. clap clap. Ber-nie Will-iams! Clap clap, When it was all said and done, “I remember playing the living clap clap clap. New York would be the only team that daylight out of that guitar all through “I didn’t even play the game, and Williams ever played for. During his my high school years,” said Williams. I got introduced after ,” years playing for the Yankees he would Williams had two loves in his Williams told Talk of the Town. grow into an icon himself. However, life—music and —and eventu- It was a homecoming of sorts, it would be far from an easy journey, ally the latter came wooing in the form according to Williams, the four-time especially arriving on the scene when of the Yankees. They signed him when Gold Glover and five-time all-star. he did. he was just 17 years old. Although his Williams had one of the most pro- “I think I kind of caught the team parents actually met in the South lific postseason careers of any player in a little bit of a valley so to speak Bronx while Williams’ mother was in baseball history. His 80 postseason which in essence gave me a great op- working as an educator in an exchange runs batted in remain a record to this portunity to flourish as a baseball program, New York still seemed like a day. Who can forget the eleventh in- player within the context of the team distant land to Bernie. Unlike, say the ning walk-off homer in Game 1 of because they were so concerned about Pirates with Roberto Clemente, or the the 1996 ALCS against the Orioles, other stuff,” he explained. Astros with Jose Cruz, the Yankees or the batting title in 1998, or just that Williams, a quieter leader, let his had no real Puerto Rican icons in their smooth, cool aura he exuded in center bat and glove–his guitar, too—do the history. Continued on pg. XX xx SUMMER 2012

Continued from pg. XX “I didn’t really know too much said Williams. “It was like the Grate- Now, Williams gets to relive his past about the Yankees when I signed,” ful Dead.” glory during Old Timers Day. confessed Williams, who suddenly Williams became a switch - “It’s amazing how time flies,” faced a big learning curve now that ter, and when the time was right, he Williams reflected. “I thought it was he had arrived in the high-scrutiny found his niche in the lineup. The like yesterday that I played those Big Time. The team had fans in ev- team gelled under , and they games those years.” ery city, and reporters covering each just couldn’t stop winning. The Yankees tend to show a cer- player’s every blink. It was quite an “[Torre] was the right man for tain sternness to them when they take adjustment, coming from a more the right job at the time and he kind the field and in interviews. But it is tranquil environment. of let us play and do our thing,” Wil- not always business. Williams kept a “We could be playing in Detroit, liams explained. guitar in the clubhouse and practiced Seattle or Anaheim—anywhere, and And the players did their thing. scales in the back of the plane where we always had people following us,” Four titles in five years ain’t too bad. the veterans sat on road trips. He’d xx SUMMER 2012 NOW BATTING, NUMBER 51…

Puerto Rico… My homeland

New York… My second home

Center Field… That was a great gig

Flamenco… Part of my heritage

The Boss (Steinbrenner)… Grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to play with the Yankees

The Boss (Springsteen)… Great honor to share the same stage with him to play “Glory Days”

Pinstripes… Excellence, tradition, titles

Eleventh Inning… I’m tired. Let’s go home!

Jeter… The Captain

Posada… My fellow Puerto Rican friend on the team

Mo… The best closer that ever lived

Pettitte… Solid, and the one pitcher that I would like to give the ball when it’s crunch time

Torre… The right man for the right job, and the Godfather

Yanks-Sox… One of the greatest rivalries in sports

The Stadium… It’s where I spent most of my adult life. It was home, and it was an honor to hold center field for them for as long as I did. strum away, keeping those around The Flip… It just shows [Jeter’s] great instinct for the game him calm, cool and collected with his flamenco rhythms. Jeter would like to put on MTV The Studio… A lot of pressure but it’s rewarding when it in the clubhouse after practice. Some- comes out right times, teammates made requests to the guitarist so they could sing along. The Fans… New York fans are the greatest in the world “If I knew a song, I would try to play it for them and they would do Jazz… their karaoke thing,” Williams re- One of the great expressions of freedom called. Back in the 1970s, Jamming… It’s one of the best things that I’m doing right kept a drum set in the stadium. Years now, in every sense of the word Continued on pg. XX SUMMER 2012 xx Bernie Williams: A Musician OF A DIFFERENT STRIPE

Continued from pg. XX

later, Paul O’Neill would jam with tently and has jammed with everyone said Williams. “And then he was show- Williams during rain delays or after from The Allman Brothers Band and ing me some of the new stuff that he practice. Before the YES Network to James Taylor was working on.” came to be, MSG ran a promo spot and Garth Brooks. Williams has two The artists are always thrilled of a bespectacled Williams on guitar, albums under his belt; the latest, Mov- when they meet Williams. He feels and O’Neill on drums playing a ing Forward, was nominated for a Lat- the same way about meeting them. crunchy blue riff. (If you want to check in Grammy in 2009. “They all want to be baseball it out, it’s on YouTube.) O’Neill’s Yet the 43-year-old Williams is players, and all baseball players want classic rock, Mellencamp-y vibe con- still relatively new to the music game. to be rock stars.” trasted with Williams’ style. “I definitely consider myself a Williams is more of a jazz guy “Coming from playing blues and rookie in this business, but I’m seri- than a rocker, but he’s done both. His my Latin roots, it was a very interest- ous enough to make it a full-time af- baseball days may be over, but his ing combination of flavor,” Williams fair,” said Williams. beautiful guitar still echoes at sport- noted. One time, was with ing events, whether it’s at Knicks and But Williams has always been Williams in the green room before a Nets games or at the inauguration of about learning. In school, he studied taping of CenterStage, and the two the new . Oftentimes Bach, Haydn, Mozart. It prepared had their guitars handy. Williams athletes struggle when they’re finally him well for his post-baseball life. played Simon his beautiful arrange- forced to make way for a new rookie or Now fully retired, Williams has ment of “Take Me Out to the Ball- stud free agent. Music has kept Wil- time to focus on music. For the last two game.” liams at peace: “I wouldn’t know what or three years, he has played consis- “(Simon) said that he loved it,” I would be without music in my life.” xx SUMMER 2012