Bernie Williams Considering comeback?

[celtsxpatsxsox]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=4023275

ESPN.com news services

Former New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams has been concentrating on his music career for the last two years. But his appearance with Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic has Williams thinking about a return to the majors.

Williams told reporters on Friday that his stint in the WBC has rekindled his interest in playing baseball. He never formally retired after playing 16 seasons with the Yankees.

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"I felt really good about playing," Williams said. "I am my worst critic and I didn't feel very bad about it. It took me a while to get acclimated. But after a while, I felt very encouraged."

"I can still play," said Williams, 40, who was in New York to tape an interview for the YES Network's "CenterStage" program. He went 0-for-5 with two walks during the WBC.

Williams has yet to ask his agent to contact any big-league teams and would not say if he'd play for a team other than the Yankees. But he did say he's not interested in playing for an independent league team or working his way back through the minors.

"At this point, I don't want to be the guy that tries to come back and goes to the independent leagues or the minor leagues for a couple [of] weeks," Williams said. "I would certainly welcome the opportunity to play in the big leagues at some point, even though the window is very short right now."

His second album, "Moving Forward," is scheduled to be released April 14th.

interesting

 

[kmanharris]

One of my favorite Yankees of all time. Class act on and off the field.

That being said I hope he doesn't come back. Just stay retired imo

 

[Mit]

He should just stay retired. Who would want him at his age?

 

[Prodigal Son]

He should just stay retired. Who would want him at his age?

The Oakland Raiders have shown some interest.

 

[celtsxpatsxsox]

He should just stay retired. Who would want him at his age?

There would be teams looking for a veteran to have in the Locker Room.

 

[dell71]

I love Bernie, but he was washed up the year before he retired. There was good reason the Yanks didn't ask him back.

 

[j.hen]

Beanie Wells considers playing cornerback?

 

[The Messenger]

I would love to see Bernie come back, but at the same time I don't think he should.

He's my favorite Yankees of all-time, just ahead of Jeter, Pettitte, and Paul O'Neil. I'll always remember what he did on that 90's team and I'd prefer to keep it that way, rather than to see a Bernie Williams who can't be the gold glover in center field or the silver slugger at the plate he once was.

 

[Wildcard]

Tino! Tino! Tino! Tino! Tino! Tino!

 

[dell71]

.281, 12 HR, 61 RBI in his last year as a part time player, and not inviting him back in favor of a Phelps/Mientkiewicz platoon was smart?

Whether Bernie is still a viable option after 2 seasons out of baseball, I don't know. But the Yankees (Cashman) were dumb as hell to ignore him going into the 2007 season. He was everything they could have wanted from him in 2006, and Cashman blew him off in favor of guys with better OBP's that can't hit to save their lives.

He was also hobbling around the outfield like he was about to fall over having become a shell of himself defensively. Don't tell me about his fielding %, I know what it is & what I saw. At some point you have to cut ties with old players & I'd rather cut those ties a year too soon than a year too late. Especially since, they likely would've had to offer him a multi-year deal for him to stick around.

 

[Chrispy]

i heard he took steroids.

 

[Rayman]

As far as Yankees go, Bernie is my favorite ever.

And he's #2 period to Roberto Clemente. I'd hate to see him come back and tarnish my beloved memories of him. Especially if it were in another uniform.

I'll never forget how he spurned the Red Sox at the last minute and took less money to come back to the Yanks in '99. A rarity.

Cashman did him dirty with the non-roster invitee thing.