This happened last October, a month in which Bernie Williams is used to being in the spotlight.
Williams, in his second successful career as a jazz guitarist, was getting ready to play a show at a local college when a student, who was a baseball player, began asking him serious questions about the game. Before you knew it, Williams was in his batting stance giving major league tips to the young player, a hitting clinic prior to a concert.
“It was amazing to see,’’ Williams’ longtime manager Steve Fortunato said. “Bernie loves music with all his heart, but he still bleeds baseball.’’
Yes, he does.
On Sunday, the Yankees will honor Williams, 46, with enshrinement in Monument Park, retiring his No. 51 on Bernie Williams Night.
It is well deserved. The generation of Yankees fans who followed those four world championship teams Williams starred for will have the chance to see one of their own join the legends of Yankees past.
Bernie, a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove center fielder, was a huge part of the Fab Five, as general manager Brian Cashman noted last month when the Yankees made the official announcement.
The Core Four of Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and ringleader Derek Jeter surely needed Williams in the center of the action.
“We had this sort of team-oriented cause, and we took to the max,’’ Williams said.
Now Williams is taking music to the max, and not just for himself. He returned from a visit to Washington this week, where he lobbied for the importance of music and arts in education.
“Even though I became a baseball player, I never forgot the lessons that I learned from my involvement in music at a very young age,’’ Williams said. “I believe that every child should have the same opportunities I had — to have music and the arts as a core part of their core curriculum.
“Statistics show that students who have a quality music education enhance their success in other subjects, develop further their critical thinking, leadership and social skills, and develop key brain functions that increase learning and overall academic success.’’
Williams brings such passion to this fight.
“It is so sad to learn that arts and music programs are the first things cut from school budgets,” Williams said, “so I have this mission now to work with the National Association of Music Merchants to change the mentality of our legislators and leaders in Congress to ensure that every child, regardless of their school system, geographic location or economic status, has music in their lives.
“I have only just begun this crusade.”
Baseball was once his crusade.
Over his 16-year Yankees career, Williams hit .297 with 287 home runs, 449 doubles, 1,257 RBIs and scored 1,366 runs, along with earning four World Series rings.
In the month of October, Williams was a unique weapon, batting .275 with 22 postseason home runs. In seven ALCS series, he batted .321. In 1996, he batted .474 against the Orioles and won MVP honors. He holds the postseason RBI record with 80 and is second in runs scored with 83.
Wherever I go, I run into Bernie fans, even though he last played in 2006. Angel Torres is just such a fan I saw this past week. He lived in The Bronx but has since moved to New Jersey.
“I loved watching Bernie play,’’ he said. “He had so much to offer.’’
Torres said his love for the Yankees left when Williams left.
Williams still has much to offer. In the music world, his career is blossoming. The Latino Grammy nominated jazz guitarist was given special praise by James Taylor earlier this month at Fenway Park, when Taylor called Williams a “major talent.’’
Watch and listen to Williams’ melancholy version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” The video completed filming just as the demolition crews came in to take the Babe Ruth Monument out of old Yankee Stadium.
It ends with Williams walking in from center field, probably the last Yankee to walk on that hallowed ground.
Williams just completed another semester at the Manhattan School of Music, where he soon will get his jazz performance degree.
I would like to see Williams add one more major item to all that jazz. In addition to putting No. 51 in Monument Park, the Yankees should put Williams back in the organization as a special advisor — when he has the time again.
Because Williams was a track star, he really had to learn the game from scratch, and he made his share of mistakes. He would be the perfect patient teacher to some younger Yankees like Didi Gregorius, who has the talent but is rough around the edges.
“I could see myself one day down the road working in baseball in some kind of advisory or coaching capacity,’’ Williams said. “I think my experience being in the Yankee organization for 20 years, including those early years when we were not so successful on the field, and battling through my own struggles and working so hard to firmly establish myself and become a solid player in this league, to being a part of those championship teams and handling the expectations that winning the World Series was the only acceptable goal, I would be very willing to offer my insight and experience to younger players”
Williams also is a much sought-after candidate for the broadcast booth, but he is putting all that aside for his music right now.
His entire family will be there Sunday at Yankee Stadium, including his mom, who was scheduled to come from Puerto Rico despite serious healthy issues.
Yes, this is a time to celebrate the past, but Bernie Williams possesses such a fascinating future.