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Bernie Williams has performed under bright lights before, but one performance early next year might just be his biggest — even with four World Series rings.
The former New York Yankees center fielder, a longtime musician who attended performing arts high school while chasing baseball dreams, will be playing at the famed Carnegie Hall on Jan. 13 with opera singer Jonathan Tetelman.
Even after his playing days ended in 2006, Williams went back to music school and has since played in large venues, including Radio City Music Hall. He has even performed the national anthem in front of the same Yankee crowds that used to chant his name.
New York Yankee legend Bernie Williams performs the National Anthem on his guitar prior to the game between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals on September 22, 2017, at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
“I’m starting to get butterflies in my stomach already. I know this guy [Tetelman] is a veteran of these performances,” Williams told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. “But I often make the analogy with baseball that you pretty much know how successful a baseball player is — stats, contracts, and all of that, your numbers, and music is a little bit hard to tell.
“And the only way that I could figure out how successful you are is by the people you play with and by the places you play at. So having Jonathan, collaborating with him and performing at this venue, is right at the top of any musician’s list. So I feel just extremely honored to be part of this process.”
Williams may have four World Series rings and played under the brightest lights, but even he needs some advice before this performance.
“Good luck,” Tetelman joked. “Let’s be prepared. Let’s be prepared. Let’s be prepared for anything. I think the stage is one of those things where you just never know what’s going to happen. You never know how the audience is going to feel. You never know what’s going to go wrong or go right in a piece, and you just have to go with the flow and just feel the music and let it take you where it goes.”
Bernie Williams conducts a sound check before the start of the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, on Sept. 8, 2021. (Frank Becerra Jr/The Journal News via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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The famous saying is that professional athletes die twice, but when Williams retired, he saw almost an immediate opportunity to chase his other passion.
“My experience going back to school specifically for music was probably one of the best decisions that I’ve ever made after baseball. I realized that I had a future in music probably as soon as I finished playing baseball with the Yankees,” Williams said. “We had a little bit of a controversial process with contract negotiations, and they were offering me a deal in the minor leagues and this and that. And I was like, ‘You know what, maybe it’s time for me to move away from all this and try to reinvent myself.’
“I already had this music bug living in me for a while, and I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I should just explore the possibility of becoming something else.’ Even though I can’t really call it a career, it’s a second chance at doing something that I truly love in life and that is a passion of mine.”
Music and baseball are “a different muscle,” Williams said, but there are lots of comparisons.
Former New York Yankees Bernie Williams playing the “Star Spangled Banner” on guitar at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Al Tielemans /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“There’s a common place where you really see all your hard work coming to fruition. You’re part of a team in baseball that has to come together, but it’s not that much different than this,” he said. “We’re a team and have a lot of people behind us, really supporting us and hoping for this to be a success. It’s a different muscle, but at the same time, it’s the same thing. A lot of hard work, being prepared, trusting your ability, not dwelling too much on your mistakes, and just let it rip. It’s one thing that makes me very nervous but, at the same time, very excited.”
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