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BERNIE WILLIAMS.NET

THE FAN TRIBUTE HOME OF BERNIE WILLIAMS

My goal is to make this site a fun and enjoyable place for Bernie Williams fans.  If there is anything you would like to see added, feel free to e-mail me by clicking here.  Please remember that this site is run by a fan and not Mr. Williams. Thanks for visiting! 

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Next year's HFO Dinner with guest host Bernie Williams, will take place on January 24th, 2009.  Additional guests to be announced.

INTERESTING ARTICLE ABOUT BERNIE

I am always searching for news about Bernie and am hoping that the Yankees announce a day to honor him soon.  Lately, there has not been too much going on.  I recently came across an interesting article from the Cardinal Courier Online by Bill Kuchman.  I think it pretty much sums up how most of us are feeling:

While watching the New York Yankees start the season against the Toronto Blue Jays the other day, I realized that the Yanks had issued the number 21 to LaTroy Hawkins, an odd sight considering the fact that no Yankee had worn this number since Paul O'Neill retired after the 2001 season. According to the baseball rumor mill, the Yankees had been holding on to 21 with plans of eventually retiring it in honor of O'Neill.

This turn of events led me to thinking about other former Yankee greats who haven't had their numbers reissued yet. Which leads me to the point of this, the penultimate edition of Extra Innings …

What's up with Bernie Williams?

After patrolling center field at Yankee Stadium for almost a decade and a half, Williams was unceremoniously offered an invite to last season's spring training but without the guarantee of a roster spot. Seeing this as the blatant lack of respect that it was, Williams chose to not return to the Yankees and wound up sitting out the 2007 season.

So you have a player who is only 39 currently (I say "only 39" based on the fact that major league players are playing longer than ever now) with a lifetime batting average of .297 who has already engraved his name all over the record books of one of the most storied franchises in the world … and he's just sitting at home.

Now, I'm not saying that I want or wanted Bernie to go play for another team. It's bad enough he was seriously courted by the Red Sox after the 1998 season. I don't even think I'm saying that he should come back and play for the Yankees now (last year would've been a different story).

What I'd like for Bernie and the Yankees is closure.

A player with the resume of Bernie Williams deserved a better end than he received. For everything that Williams helped the Yanks achieve, he should have been able to go out on his terms. A non-roster invitation is a slap in the face and Bernie was right to reject it. I find it hard to believe that the random parade of outfields and bench players the Yankees signed last year brought more to the team that Bernie would have.

One more season from Bernie shouldn't have been beyond the Yankees abilities.

Despite the fact that it's probably too late now for Bernie to once again put on the pinstripes, I'd like to think that he and the Yankees could repair their relationship and find common ground in the future. While Williams may or may not be a Hall of Famer, he could always be honored in Monument Park at the new Yankee Stadium. They could retire his number.

In light of the way Joe Torre was treated last year by the franchise and the fact that fellow Yankee-great Don Mattingly left the team on poor terms, a reunion with Bernie Williams could do wonders for the Bronx Bombers' image.