There was always a lot of chuckling over Bernie Williams, the soulful, endearing outfielder who sometimes seemed as much of a space cadet as he was a star ballplayer.
But the “Bernie being Bernie” moments should not take away from the terrific ballplayer Williams was, a key cog on championship teams.
He may not fit into the easy rhyme of the “Core Four” and he wasn’t a Yankee anymore when Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte won in ‘09, but Williams was every bit as vital to the Yankee Dynasty years.
With all that in mind, we offer our “51 Facts About Bernie” as a warmup to Sunday night’s ceremonies, in which Williams’ No.