For Bernie Williams, grabbing the bat was easy. On all occasions during his New York Yankees career, whether it was spring training or the postseason, whether he faced flamethrowers or knuckleballers, he would produce the same trustworthy 34 1/2-inch, 33 oz. Rawlings model.
However, music is different.
“The guitar was chosen for performance,” Williams said. “It’s about the sound you want to create, it’s about the music you want to play. You need the right instrument for the right performance, and that changes over time.
As the former outfielder prepares to make his second major league debut — this time in the Arts — that’s what’s bothering him. Williams will play guitar for the first time with the New York Philharmonic at Wednesday’s spring gala, marking an epic milestone for the five-time All-Star and four-time World Series champion now entering the second act of his life.
So, which guitar? Acoustic steel strings? dome? Williams said a few weeks ago that he might even opt for an electric car “for that Santana-esque sound,” although he added that “that might be too much for that environment.”
Williams spent his entire career with the Yankees from 1991 to 2006, repositioning himself as an accomplished musician, earning Latin Grammy nominations and critical acclaim. Still, at age 55, Williams was rattled by the thought of being thrust into the spotlight at another hallowed New York venue—like Yankee Stadium, but with better acoustics.
On Wednesday, he will perform a first-choice piece, his 2009 composition “Moving Forward,” newly arranged by jazz artist Jeff Tyzik. Renowned conductor Gustavo Dudamel will be at the helm.
“I hope I’m as nervous as I would be on any type of stage,” Williams said, “but I don’t think it’s any different than going to Game 7 of the World Series, you know?”
To answer the last question: No, Mr. Williams, we No Know. No one in the history of baseball wants to compare the experience of Baseball’s Fall Classic to the Philharmonic’s Spring Gala. No one else had played in “The House Ruth Built,” nor in the concert hall where Leonard Bernstein hosted on its opening night in 1962.
For the president and chief executive of the New York Philharmonic, Williams’ honor means a lot of gnashing of teeth. Gary Ginsling is a die-hard Mets fan.
“I have to say, this was a very difficult decision for me,” King’s Lynn said in a phone interview. “I did look all over for retired Mets players. But there was no one like Bernie Williams.
Bernie Williams has been playing the national anthem before baseball games since his retirement. Here’s him watching the Oakland Athletics play the Minnesota Twins in 2021. (Darren Yamashita/USA Today)
The experience was enough to remind Williams of his first major league at-bat. The switch-hitter was just 22 years old when he loaded the bases in the third inning against left-hander Jeff Ballard at Yankee Stadium on July 7, 1991. Baseball Reference box scores are immortalized this way: Ground ball: 3B-1B (weak 3B).
The outing just got better. Williams scored one run in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly and again in the ninth on an infield single.
“I remember being really nervous,” Williams said of that debut. “I remember there was a lot of uncertainty about my career and my own ability to stay in the major leagues. All I wanted to do was get an opportunity to show people what I could do.
A week later, Williams hit his first home run against the California Angels at Anaheim Stadium. He hit a fastball thrown by Chuck Finley over the left-center field wall. He has continued to improve since then: in 16 seasons, he hit .297, hit 287 home runs, and stole 147 bases.
July 14, 1991
Bernie Williams hits first career home run pic.twitter.com/nYIteNuXlL— New York Yankees Throwback (@yankeethrowback) February 19, 2022
Williams helped the Yankees win four World Series, including three straight from 1998 to 2000. Ny Ramirez (29) and Jose Altuve (27).
This summation sometimes applies to his music career, in part because it’s easy to dismiss Williams as just another retired athlete with an expensive new hobby. But his lifelong musical journey was part of what drew him to the New York Philharmonic. The Spring Gala, held in David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, is a fundraiser for music education. King’s Lynn hopes younger generations will be inspired by Williams’ scholarly dedication to his craft.
Williams’ first coach was his father. Bernabé Williams, an able merchant seaman, returned from Spain with a gift for his seven-year-old son. It was a guitar his son never put down. The family later found a guitar teacher near Puerto Rico, and by the time Bernie was 9, he was performing on local radio stations with other star students.
“The guitar teacher took all the little kids he had lessons with, and those kids were amazing,” Williams recalled. “He would give them a chance to play a song or two on the radio show. … It was a great experience and set the stage for everything that followed.
Williams continued to play throughout his baseball career, especially amid the grief of his father’s death from lung disease in 2001. and composing music in preparation for a future career in baseball. The album bolsters his bona fides with 14 solid tracks, including collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Jon Secada and Dave Koz.
Bernie Williams and musician Jon Secada perform at the Grammy SoundCheck Awards on April 17, 2009 in New York City. (Joe Cohen/WireImage)
But eventually, Williams formalized his expertise. He entered the prestigious Manhattan School of Music to pursue a bachelor’s degree.
“I’m telling you, all the home runs I hit in the postseason didn’t help me get there,” Williams said. “I had to really reinvent myself. In a very strange way, I had to win the admiration of the kids I played with because by the time they got to Manhattan School of Music, they were all virtuosos on their own instruments.
“I was the old guy in the back of the room. I asked all the questions and asked that no one erase the blackboard until I had written all my notes.
Williams was not pursuing a diploma for the sake of a thesis. The experience marked his evolution from baseball player to artist.
“I think school gave me a good sense of why I wanted to be a musician and the responsibility we have as music makers to make sure we make the world a better place,” he said. “The joy and power of music is an incredible thing that can be used to benefit the world.”
Therein lies the message of a spring gala and underscores why even Mets fans like King’s Lynn embrace the Yankees at home. Wednesday’s compromise bill aims to introduce the Philharmonic to new audiences. Selections include Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” suite, two works by rapper Common, and the aria “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5” sung by Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park.
“I think that’s why I’m so excited,” King’s Lynn said. “We’re going to have a lot of Bernie Williams fans that night, and they’re probably going to hear the New York Philharmonic for the first time. They’re excited to hear Bernie, but we want them to hear the history of orchestral performance. Trauss. We wanted them to hear an orchestra playing a piece by Nina Shekhar, and we were playing a piece by this up-and-coming composer.
“We hope they’ll be attracted not only to Bernie but to all these tracks, and then they’ll come back.”
Before that, Williams would sometimes wake up unexpectedly at 2:30 a.m. and reach for his guitar. Still half-awake, he would keep playing until the notes sounded just right, then allow himself to fall back asleep.
“This is the level of preparation required to host an event like this,” he said. “Because when you’re nervous, you want to still be in control and not freeze when the situation happens. The only antidote is to be fully prepared.
“That’s true of anything that requires a spotlight, a lot of expectations, a lot of pressure.”
Williams isn’t the first baseball player to use music to make news. Back in 1964, Yankees bus trips became tense when Yogi Berra grew tired of hearing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” played on harmonica by a utility infielder named Phil Linz.
But that’s the “New York Philharmonic harmonica.” The New York Philharmonic is a completely different ball game.
“If anything,” Williams said, “baseball has taught me how to perform well under pressure, and this will definitely test my abilities.”
(Above: Mychal Watts/Getty Images)
