The Sad End To Bernie Williams' Baseball Career

We have all seen this before. An aging Bernie Williams hanging on too long, the fans urging him along, wistfully chanting his name. Unlike on those many nights in September and October of 2006, this scene did not occur at the historic "House That Ruth Built," but Hiram Bithorn Stadium in Puerto Rico.

Tonight in the World Baseball Classic, Bernie got the start in left field (after doing a little digging we learned that Joe Torre is not of Puerto Rican heritage and thus not managing the team, so there has to be some other explanation for this development). Bernie was 0-2 with a walk before being pulled in the fifth inning, but that doesn't begin to explain the mark he left on the game, and not in a positive way. Bernie showed his inexperience in left field, misplaying a ball leading to the Netherlands' only run. On the basepaths, a painfully slow Bernie tried to score from second base on a single to right field and was thrown out easily, preventing Puerto Rico from getting on the board.

In a pleasant surprise, Jim Kaat is the color analyst for the exciting game, and shockingly called out Bernie and his manager for possibly costing Puerto Rico the game. Puerto Rico being shut out by The Netherlands is hardly all Bernie's fault. However, Kitty took Puerto Rico's manager to task for starting Bernie Williams at a position he hardly played in his major league career and then took Bernie to task for not knowing the limitations of his 40 year old legs.

It seemed like it would be fun to see Bernie back on the ball field, but all it has done is serve as an example that the hands of time are cruel beasts. The only good news to come out of this is that it will likely slam the door on any ill-fated major league comeback that Bernie may or may not have been planning.

UPDATE (9:42 PM): Puerto Rico has finally broken through against The Netherlands, taking a 3-1 lead in the 8th. Bernie is off the hook.

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Bernie Williams Intentionally Walked, Bizarro World Officially Entered

The World Baseball Classic is on the TV at Stadium Insider headquarters and we just witnessed a strange event - Bernie Williams was intentionally walked.

What kind of Twilight Zone have we entered? Bernie Williams is being intentionally walked in the late innings of an International tournament, while Mariano Rivera sits on the bench serving as a commemorative coach/mentor for Panama.

Bernie appears to be in shape, and the Puerto Rican fans made like Yankee fans and gave him a two minute Ber-Nie-Will-Iams CLAP, CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP chant.

Now lets just hope that Bernie doesn't get too nostalgic by signing with some scrubby team as a role player, ruining his one-team legacy with the New York Yankees. Not many players are in one uniform for their entire career anymore and it would be a shame for Bernie to ruin it on whim.




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An Early Review of Bernie Williams' Sophomore CD

Editor's note: This is the debut post from a new author on the blog, Fake IPK. You may know Fake IPK from some of his hilarious comments on various blog posts, originating with the famous "Ian Kennedy Got Jerked Off" post last April. Fake IPK will be contributing on an occasional basis, most likely as our resident reviewer of Yankee books, Yankee music CD (as seen below) and anything else we feel like reviewing. Please join me in giving him a warm welcome, preferably by making fun of him in the comments section. - Ross



Ben over at Rock Ridge Music wants us to pass along the following tracks from Bernie Williams' forthcoming CD due out on April 14.

"Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

"Glory Days" with Bruce Springsteen on vocals
(apparently not working now, not sure why)

Our early review:

“Bernie’s soulful tunes evoke a lucid sentiment slash central theme that comes through loud and clear on each track: ‘I’m a wealthy, retired baseball player and I’m having trouble filling my days.’ And who hasn’t felt that before?”

On a serious note, we should be receiving an advance copy of the CD, so we'll be sure to let you know how the whole thing is once it arrives.

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Opening day at Steinbrenner field, featuring your daily dose of 1990's Yankee nostalgia

The Yankees are playing their Spring Training home opener right now and the late 90's dynasty boys are out in full force. Bernie Williams threw out the first pitch and Tino Martinez is in the house as well.

Courtesy of "loufranco" on TwitPic, comes the following photo of Ber-nie-Will-iams (clap, clap, clap clap clap) throwing out the first pitch just minutes ago:



Also, don't forget to check out this post for the complete Spring Training 2009 broadcast schedule, including SOPCAST links for all of you who aren't at home, or don't get the YES Network where you live.

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Derek Jeter is already getting the Bernie Williams treatment from the fans...

Another magic moment in the Bronx tonight:

The Yankees went into the bottom of the sixth inning with a comfortable 8-3 lead. Derek Jeter led off the inning and slapped a "Jeterian" homerun into the bleachers in right field.

After he finished his trip around the bases, the crowd broke into a "De-rek Je-ter" chant. For a solid minute. True story. He just hit a homerun that made the game 9-3 and the crowd was chanting his name, pleading for a curtain call, as if he had just had another Clutchy McClutch moment.

Lets pretend it was Alex Rodriguez who hit that homerun. I'm sure there would be accusatory grumbles throughout the Stadium about stat-padding.

Remember at the end of his career when the fans knew Bernie Williams was done? They (I) started chanting his name every time he did anything good, trying to honor him any way possible.

Sadly, Jeter is getting the Bernie Williams treatment already. Yankee fans have now taken to being nostalgic before a player's career is even close to being over. Weird breed of fan these Yankees draw nowadays.

I could spend 20 minutes of my life ripping the video of this incident, but I think everyone knows I'm not making this stuff up.

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