ESPN the Weekend: Bernie Williams

Bernie Williams, a Yankees great and Latin Grammy-nominated musician, took time during ESPN the Weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios to talk with me.

BR: You won four World Series titles, four Gold Gloves, an American League batting title and you're second in career postseason home runs. Then you add a Latin Grammy nomination to that. Compare the sense of accomplishment that you've gotten from your athletic achievements to that of your musical achievements?

BW: First of all, obviously the body of work that I had accumulated by playing baseball is paramount. I mean there's no comparison. I'm just starting to get into the music industry right now and obviously it's a great honor to be nominated for a Latin Grammy, but I still realize that I have a long way to go to even try to compare myself to what I've done in baseball.

BR: How do you compare the discipline and skill required to be an elite pro athlete with the commitment needed to be a successful recording and performing musician?

BW: They are very similar. I think you have to have the drive to become better skilled at both. In baseball, it's running and throwing, the drills. In music, it's the same thing. You have to have this routine that you do every day -- [a routine] of scales, arpeggios, getting into music theory and putting yourself in a position that you can be successful when you're playing on stage. It's very similar and it requires a lot of hard work. You don't get there by magic. You have to really work at it. But it's very rewarding. It's like the cliché, "The more you put into it, the more you're going to get out of it." It really, literally, is that way in music. You put your time in, you put your work in and you get it out when you play. It's very rewarding to see that kind of interaction.

BR: What's more difficult, baseball or music?

BW: I think at this time, music is a little bit harder just because I'm not used to doing it on a consistent basis. Baseball is the one thing that I've had consistent in my life for the last 30 years. Music is something that I'm getting into, but I will assume that music will become easier, probably easier than baseball to some extent, because there's a lot more variables that I can control with music. Playing on stage you have a set song. Once you what you know, you just throw it out there and you're secure in your ability to play a certain amount of notes or whatever it is that you play. I think [music] will become set as opposed to baseball because even though you can have all the confidence in the world, you're trying to control something that you have absolutely no control of. There are so many variables that you cannot control: How the pitcher's going to be, how the umpire's going to be, how you're going to be as a player. You can do everything right and not have anything to show for it. Music you have a little more return in your efforts.

BR: What were your goals when you embarked on your baseball career? What are your goals for your musical endeavors and are you approaching them in the same fashion?

BW: In a way I am. Baseball was more about not really having any accolades or awards or anything like that, [but] just having that mentality to not waste any time in becoming the best player that I can be, and not procrastinating and if you needed to get it done, just get it done. Music to me is the same thing. I don't know if I'm going to become a great guitar player, but I know that I'm going to do the best that I can to be the best that I can be at that particular skill, whether it's playing notes or improvising a set of chord progressions, composing music. There's so many ways I can take the music aspect. The possibilities are endless. But at the same time, you need to have a plan. You need to work on your weak spots and make them strong. My goal is to become the best musician that I can be in the time frame that I have, so I think that's pretty good.

BR: Is a new album in the works?

BW: I'm getting used to developing some ideas as far as making them into songs. The compositional aspect of my music is a work in progress. I still don't know yet where I want to take my music and what direction I want to take it in. But that's the beauty of it, that you can take any direction and if you feel it with your heart and you go for it with a certain amount of drive, you're going to get wherever you want to go. But right now I'm just having a lot of fun playing live. The one thing that I can associate to be the closest to playing on a baseball field is playing live on stage. The interaction with the fans and just having that moment where you're in the zone playing with a group of guys just speaking that same language is something that's not very easy to replicate in normal life. I'm getting a great kick out of that.

BR: You were on many great teams. What do you remember most about them, and is there anything you saw in last year's team that reminded you of your playing days?

BW: The one thing that I remember most about those teams is the fact that we didn't really have a great, great player carrying the team, except for Mariano [Rivera] closing games. But I do remember that we were a whole bunch of good players, just good players sharing the wealth. From the first hitter to the ninth hitter we had very similar numbers. This year there was a lot more star power on that team. It was just unbelievable the amount of talent that that team had from A-Rod to Derek [Jeter] to Mariano to all those games. And it's getting better with Mark Teixeira right now and CC [Sabathia] and now [Curtis] Granderson playing center field. They are becoming a team of all-stars and if everybody stays healthy, and they're fairly young too, so they have an opportunity to be great for a lot of years. That's a scary thought.