For Bernie Williams, catching a bat was easy. He would pull out the same trusty 34 1/2 inch, 33 ounce Rawlings model for every occasion during his career with the New York Yankees, whether it was spring training or the playoffs, whether he was doing facing a flamethrower or a knuckleballer.
On the other hand, the music is different.
“Choosing a guitar is a matter of concert,” Williams said. “It’s about the sound you want to create and the music you’re going to play. You need the right instrument with the right gig, and that varies over time.
That’s what’s vexing the former outfielder as he prepares for a second big league start — this time in the arts. Williams will play guitar for the first time with the New York Philharmonic at the spring gala on Wednesday, an epic milestone for a five-time All-Star and four-time World Series champion, now deep into the second act of his life.
So, which guitar? Acoustic steel string? The ark? Williams said he might even choose to go electric “for that kind of Santana-like sound,” although he added that “it might just be too over-the-top for that environment.”
Williams, who spent his entire career with the Yankees from 1991 to 2006, redefined himself as an accomplished musician, ordained with a Latin Grammy nomination and critical acclaim. Still, at 55, the idea of finding himself in the spotlight at another hallowed venue in New York — think Yankee Stadium, but with better acoustics — gives Williams butterflies.
On Wednesday, he will perform a selection, his 2009 piece “Moving Forward,” newly arranged by jazz artist Jeff Tyzik. The famous conductor Gustavo Dudamel will be at the helm.
“I expect to be as nervous as I’ve ever been on any type of stage,” Williams said. “But I think it won’t be any different than playing a seventh game of the World Series, you know?”
To answer this last question: No, Mr. Williams, we don’t do it know. No one else in baseball history is willing to compare the experience of the Fall Baseball Classic and the Philharmonic Spring Gala. No one else played in “The House That Ruth Built” and the concert hall that Leonard Bernstein christened while conducting on opening night in 1962.
Williams’ distinction means a lot of gnashing of teeth for the president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic. Gary Ginstling is an avid Mets fan.
“It’s a profoundly difficult decision for me, I have to say,” Ginstling said in a telephone interview. “I’ve scoured the landscape for retired Mets. But no one could compete with Bernie Williams.
That experience is enough to give Williams flashbacks to his first big league at-bat. The changeup hitter was 22 when he came into play in the third inning at Yankee Stadium against left-handed junkballer Jeff Ballard on July 7, 1991. It wasn’t a soaring opening score. THE Baseball Reference Box Score immortalized the moment this way: Groundout: 3B-1B (Weak 3B).
The output has improved. Williams drove in a run with the sacrifice fly in the fifth and brought home another run with a infield single in the ninth.
“I remember being very nervous,” Williams said of those early days. “I remember living in a place where there was a lot of uncertainty about my career and my own ability to stay in the big leagues. All I wanted was the opportunity to be able to show people what I can do.
A week later, Williams hit his first home run at Anaheim Stadium against the California Angels. He hit a fastball thrown by Chuck Finley over the left-center field wall. He continued from there: a .297 batting average with 287 home runs and 147 stolen bases over 16 seasons.
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 titles, including three in a row from 1998 to 2000. His 22 career postseason home runs rank third all-time behind Manny Ramírez (29) and José Altuve (27). ).
This summary sometimes applies to his musical career, in part because it would be easy to dismiss Williams as just another retired jock with an expensive new hobby. But his lifelong musical journey is part of what appeals to the New York Philharmonic. The Spring Gala is a fundraiser for music education, and Ginstling wants younger people to be inspired by Williams’ scholarly dedication to his craft.
Williams’ first instructor was his father. Bernabé Williams, a merchant navy sailor, returned from Spain with a gift for his 7-year-old son. It was a guitar his son never gave up. The family then found a guitar teacher in their Puerto Rico neighborhood, and by the time Bernie was 9, he had already performed on a local radio station with other star students.
“The guitar teacher had all the little kids taking lessons with him, the ones who were pretty remarkable,” Williams recalls. “He was giving them the opportunity to play a song or two on this radio show. … It was such a great experience and it kind of set the stage for everything that followed.
Williams continued performing throughout his baseball career, then studied guitar and composition for a year at the State University of New York at Purchase in preparation for his debut album, “Moving Forward.” This release boosted his credibility with 14 solid tracks, including collaborations with Bruce Springsteen, Jon Secada and Dave Koz.
But ultimately, Williams formalized his expertise. He enrolled at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music en route to a bachelor’s degree.
“I tell you what, none of the homers I hit in the postseason helped me there,” Williams said. “I really had to reinvent myself. And in a very strange way, I must have gained the admiration of the kids I played with, because they were all virtuosos on their own instruments by the time they got to the Manhattan School of Music.
“I was the old man in the back of the room. I asked all the questions and requested that no one erase the board until I finished writing all the notes.
Williams wasn’t pursuing a degree for the newspaper’s sake. This experience allowed him to go from being a baseball player to being an artist.
“I think school gave me a great perspective on why I wanted to become a musician and the responsibility we have as music creators to make sure we make this world a better place,” he said. declared. “The joy and power of music is simply an incredible thing to use for the good of the world.”
Therein lies the message of the spring gala and highlights why even a Mets fan like Ginstling hugs a Yankee in the house. Wednesday’s eclectic bill is designed to introduce the philharmonic to new audiences. Selections range from a suite of Richard Strauss’s “Der Rosenkavalier” to two pieces by rapper Common to a tune called “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5,” sung by South Korean soprano Hera Hyesang Park.
“I think that’s what I’m so passionate about,” Ginstling said. “We’re going to have a ton of Bernie Williams fans in the house that night, who will probably hear the New York Philharmonic for the first time. It will be great for them to hear Bernie, but we want them to hear the orchestra play Strauss. And we want them to hear the orchestra play Nina Shekhar, this promising composer whose piece we’re playing.
“We hope they get hooked not just on Bernie, but on this whole repertoire, and come back.”
Until then, Williams sometimes wakes up unexpectedly at 2:30 a.m. and picks up his guitar. Still half awake, he will strum until the notes sound like they should before going back to sleep.
“That’s the level of preparation you need for an event like this,” he said. “Because when nervousness kicks in, you always want to be in control and not freeze up when the situation arises. The only antidote to this is to be well prepared.
“That’s true of anything that requires spotlight, high expectations and high pressure.”
Williams isn’t the first baseball player to make news with his music. As early as 1964, a Yankees bus ride became tense when Yogi Berra grew tired of hearing “Mary Had a Little Lamb” played on the harmonica by a utility infielder named Phil Linz.
But it was “the New York Phil’s harmonica.” The New York Philharmonic is a whole different ball game.
“If anything,” Williams said, “baseball has taught me how to be able to play under pressure, and this will definitely put that to the test.”
(Top photo: Mychal Watts/Getty Images)