Looking back at the great career of Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams is not a Hall of Famer. But, he will always be remembered as a great Yankee and a winner. He appeared in 121 postseason games. When you go through his postseason stats, they're staggering. Just a .275 BA, but with 29 doubles, 22 homers, 80 RBI, and a .375 OBP in 121 games. Those would be darn good stats for a full season! In terms of postseason stats, he's second to Derek Jeter in games played, at-bats, plate appearances, runs scored, hits, total bases, singles, and doubles for the most all time. He's second in homers behind Manny Ramirez and still holds the all-time record for RBI. He's one of the best postseason performers of the wild card era.

He wasn't too shabby in the regular season either. He had a .297 career BA with 287 homers and a .381 OBP. He averaged 18 homers and 79 RBI per season in his career- not legendary stats, but he certainly was a huge part of every Yankee team he played for until the very end. He was a 5-time all star, a 4-time Gold Glover, and he won the American League batting title in 1998. For a time, from 1995 to 2002, Williams was one of the best players in baseball. He hit 194 of his homers, and averaged a .321 BA, 24 homers, 102 RBI, and a .406 OBP per season. After that point, like any regular player, he declined. But even as the clock was winding down on his career, Williams was still a productive player, hitting just a .263 BA from '03 to the end of his career in '06, but still averaged 15 homers, 65 RBI, and a .346 OBP. He played his last game shortly after his 38th birthday and later retired after a lengthy contract dispute. Speaking of the contract dispute after the '06 season, it perfectly exemplified Williams as a person. He was unhappy when the Yankees did not offer him a major league contract, but has since mended his relationship with the Yankees.

On the back of my dad's 1999 Yankees World Champions shirt, it has Bernie Williams' number 51. That's the way we'll remember him. He was a great player, a great person, and most of all, a winner.