by   Phoenix Desertsong,  Sports Nut

When I began following baseball around the turn of the 21st century, the Red Sox and New York Yankees rivalry was as hot as ever. One of my favorite players to watch right from the beginning was Bernie Williams…of the Yankees. That's right. The long time Yankees center fielder spent all 16 major league seasons in the Bronx. I saw him right towards the end of his prime. Today, I feel like he's become vastly underrated.

For eight seasons, 1995 to 2002, Bernie Williams was consistently one of the best players in baseball. His counting stats were never that impressive, but someone who consistently hits 20 HR, 100 RBI, steals 10 to 15 bases, and hits over .300 is going to be damn valuable. Whether coincidence or not, it so happens that Bernie's peak almost perfectly coincided with the Yankees eight year Dynasty. What held him back, interestingly enough, was his "Gold Glove" defense.

That's right. The 4 time Gold Glove winner was actually a below average center fielder. Sure, he made the plays. The problem was that he didn't really have great range as a center fielder. I certainly never thought of Bernie as bad a fielder as the defensive metrics have him. In retrospect, he was probably better suited to a corner, but staying in center field is what gave him such impressive WAR (Wins Above Replacement) numbers. He finished with 49.6 WAR according to Baseball Reference. That is nothing to sneeze at, but well short of the Hall of Fame standard.

However, Bernie was a postseason hero on several occasions and probably a better fielder than Total Zone would lead you to believe. He also won FOUR World Series with the Yankees and hit very well even in losing efforts. I always thought of Bernie Williams as a future Hall of Famer? Will he ever get a plaque in Cooperstown? It's highly unlikely, but he is on the Today's Game Committee ballot for 2022.

Then again, Chris Bodig makes an excellent case for Bernie Williams as a Hall of Famer on his excellent website Cooperstown Cred. I happen to agree with his arguments. But while I am usually a stats oriented guy like he, I'm going to look back at his peak performance merely as a fan…

Of course there will be some stats and a particular focus on his breakout career year. But, mostly, observations extrapolated from my experience and memories as a teenaged fan. Of course, even then I was obsessed with stats…


Bernie Williams and His Early Career 

Like many baseball stars I grew up watching, Bernie Williams' career began in the Junk Wax era of card collecting. In fact, Bernie's first cards debuted in 1987, the widely considered beginning over the Junk Wax overproduction. It's also the year of my birth.

Anyway, 1987 ProCards was the official cardboard debut for Bernie Williams. Several other minor league issues would follow in 1988 and 1989. Bernie's first official rookie card was 1990 Bowman, which thankfully has a glossy Tiffany version if you're looking for his key rookie card to collect. It's a great card. Bernie also appeared in 1990 Donruss, Topps, and Score. 

Bernie's major league debut wouldn't come until 1991, but by 1992 he would become an above average player in MLB. Bernie would post a 2.0 WAR Mark in just 62 games in 1992 and a 2.5 WAR Mark in 139 games in 1993. Building my "Junk Wax" Dynasty, I would be very happy to fill out my roster with a young Bernie Williams.



Bernie's Breakout Season of 1995

After a strong showing in the strike shortened 1994 season, Bernie would have his best season in the Majors by WAR. It would be the beginning of his 8-year peak. He would amass 6.4 WAR, with the best defensive season of his career by defensive WAR (1.7)... Ok, enough stats…

I wasn't watching baseball at that time, but 1995 was the year that Bernie was becoming the player I'd later admire. His 18 HR and 82 RBI were nothing to sneeze at. He did steal 8 bases, but was caught 6 times. However, he also hit .307. Keep in mind this is back when batting average was still far, far more important than on base percentage. These were stats that fans were excited about. 

The Yankees were getting really good, too. While the hobby was going into decline around this time, what kid didn't want to have some Bernie Williams rookie cards? He was a young star, and he was legit.

Bernie Williams: The Best Hitter of the Late '90s Yankees Dynasty, Who Was Almost a Red Sox...

Chris Bodig goes into it in great detail in his piece on Bernie Williams on Cooperstown Cred, but even as a more casual fan in the late 90's, I knew just by watching him that Bernie Williams was the best hitter on the Yankees. I often wished he played for the Red Sox. Well, ironically, it almost happened just as I was getting into following the sport seriously…

After the 1998 season, the Boston Red Sox actually made Bernie Williams a six year offer for $90 million - with a seventh year option on the table. Keep in mind, Mike Piazza signed a seven year $91 million deal with the Mets not long before that, at the time, the largest contract in baseball history. Arguably, that one worked out pretty well…

The great news for the Yankees is that they decided to offer a seven-year deal worth $87.5 million, which he accepted. The even better news is that the Yankees would've instead signed Albert Belle… and we all know where his career went after that. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, they not only lost Mo Vaughn to the Angels, but they essentially replaced Vaughn with.Jose Offerman (who actually was quite good in 1999, believe it or not).

There's a non zero chance that had Bernie gone to Boston, the Sox may have won both the 1999 and 2000 World Series. In retrospect, the Yankees should consider themselves very fortunate that Bernie returned to the only organization he'd ever known. They likely would have won in 2003 and 2004, as well. (No one was beating Schilling and Randy Johnson in 2001.)

Oh, what could’ve been…


Is Bernie Williams a Hall of Famer?

From my observations, Bernie Williams was absolutely, positively a Hall of Famer. He had as many, if not a couple more, big hits in the postseason as Derek Jeter - who is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. The Yankees not only may not have won all four of those rings - they may not have even gotten to the postseason some years without the consistent bat of Bernie Williams. As the Yankees primary cleanup hitter, he was the centerpiece of their offense. Period.

It also helps that Bernie Williams is also one of the most likable people to ever play the game of baseball. His second career as a jazz musician has also been a phenomenal success. Since he made so much money in his career, Bernie uses his musical talents mostly for charitable causes. If he’s not a Hall of Fame ballplayer, Bernie’s a Hall of Fame human being.

Bernie Williams is one of those guys who I’ll just throw WAR out the window and put him in the Hall of Fame anyway. As it is, modern center fielders are vastly underrepresented in the Hall. If he’s not elected into the Hall by the Today’s Game Era Committee in December 2021, I will be greatly disappointed. 

Bernie, I wish you  continued success in all you do!

You can visit Bernie’s official website: www.bernie51.com 

After defeating the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild-Card game on October 3rd, 2018, the New York Yankees set to face off with the Boston Red Sox. The winner of the American League East division, the Red Sox blew away baseball this year with 108 wins. After years of being the underdog, the Red Sox are clearly the favorite in this years American League Division Series.

But the Yankees are a very strong team. After going 100-62 on the regular season, they would be division winners anywhere else in baseball. They have Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, two of the premier sluggers in baseball. The rest of their lineup isn't bad, either. Their pitching staff has improved greatly with the addition of J.A. Happ, as well.

The Red Sox are an absolute juggernaut led by sluggers Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. Like the Yankees, they're a strong overall team. While they may have performed better than the Yankees in the regular season, they are actually rather evenly matched with the Yankees. The major advantage that the Red Sox have is ace Chris Sale and they have a bit more depth in the rotation thanks to their late-season pick-up of Nathan Eovaldi.

All in all, it's a playoff series that could easily go five games. With the Red Sox having Chris Sale, I'd take the over on the Red Sox winning in five. But this is a series that could go either way.

Who do you think will win the 2018 ALDS between the Red Sox and Yankees?

Becoming the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees does a lot for your reputation. Considering that the Yankees only gave up pitcher Shane Greene (who imploded in Detroit) for the services of shortstop Didi Gregorius, this is one of the better trades made during last offseason. While Gregorius was below average with the bat (91 OPS+) he built on his already above-average defensive tools. His defense made him a well above-average starter for the Yankees, compiling 3.3 WAR (Wins Above Replacement).

While obviously Gregorius is no Derek Jeter, he's proven that he can hold down the future Hall-of-Famer's former position. This realization has made Didi Gregorius's 2015 baseball cards a rather valuable commodity. Joining the most valuable and most recognizable baseball team in the world certainly helps his cards' collect-ability, but becoming an above average starter is good for anyone. There are so few copies of his cards available. If you're a Yankee fan, he's a must have for your baseball card collection. If you're not, he's still a solid addition to your collection and definitely one to make sure is in any 2015 Yankees team set.

The New York Yankees are enjoying a good season in 2015. As of this writing, they're currently in first place in the American League East. As team sets tend to be one of the most popular items for casual baseball card collectors, it's not a surprise that the 2015 Topps Yankees Team Set is a top seller The set includes 17 exclusive cards.

• Masahiro Tanaka
• Jacoby Ellsbury
• Brett Gardner,
• Dellin Betances
• Carlos Beltran
• Stephen Drew
• Brian McCann
• Garrett Jones
• Michael Pineda
• Jose Pirela (RC)
• Mark Teixeira
• Bryan Mitchell
• CC Sabathia
• Nathan Eovaldi
• Alex Rodriguez
• Didi Gregorius
• Chase Headley

Jose Pirela's rookie card and Bryan Mitchell's rookie card are two of the more important pieces of this team set. Pirela had a very successful cameo in 2014 but hasn't done much at all in his stint so far in 2015. He's shown plenty of offensive potential in the minors, however, so there's still hope for him.

Mitchell has done well in very limited action, with a 2..66 ERA in 20 1/3 innings so far in his career. He's enjoyed decent success at AAA, as well. It's possible he could become a full-time starter for the Yankees in the near future.

Masahiro Tanaka has enjoyed plenty of success with the Yankees. Therefore, Tanaka's All-Star Rookie card, while not a true Rookie Card, is still worth a couple of dollars. There's tons of stars in this set, too: Ellsbury, Gardner, Beltran, McCann, Teixeria, Sabathia, and A-Rod. If you're a Yankee fan, and this ends up being a team to remember, it's going to be well worth the $10-11 that you'll typically spend on one of these sets.

by R.A. Rowell; Co-Owner of Intent-sive Nature & the Brand Shamans network

With  Ichiro  Suzuki  playing his final Major League game on March 21, 2019 in Japan, it seems to be the opinion of many that the Japanese outfielder is a no-doubt Baseball Hall of Famer. The credentials are there from a traditional statistics standpoint: 3089 hits and a career .311 batting average as of the end of the 2018 season. He has 487 steals over 14 seasons. If you include his stats from Japan, that's 1278 more hits over 7-plus seasons, a .353 batting average, and 199 more steals!

He certainly has the counting stats, that's for certain. Ichiro has never walked much in the MLB, but in Japan he actually posted very strong walk rates. He was also intentionally walked  a lot, at least 13 times in his final 6 seasons in Japan. He was far more of a power threat In Japan than he was in the MLB.

Despite the fact that his Nippon League stats may not technically count towards his Hall of Fame candidacy, they should  be observed. Ichiro has been playing professional baseball since he was 18 years old, albeit not becoming a starter until 20. He played at his final 2 games in 2019 at 45! To be fair, though, Ichiro hasn't been a star-caliber player since 2010. His 2011 was awful, with a .645 OPS. His defense wasn't all that elite that year, either, although his defense has been an asset since joining the Yankees in 2012. He enjoyed 6 and 8 DRS marks in 2012 and 2013, and was still positive at 1 DRS in 2014. He rebounded with 6 DRS in 2015 and 2016. In 2017 he regressed to -1 and in 2018 he fell further to -2. Still, even into his forties, he was a plus in right field for a very long time.

In his career, Ichiro has a 102 DRS in right field. That's pretty amazing. It's possible had he spent more of his career in center field (that the Mariners always had occupied by someone else), he would've saved even more runs and been even more valuable. That being said, he's been worth 59.4 WAR to Baseball-Reference. Imagine if he'd played more games in center field how his high batting averages and spectacular defense would've affected those totals!

Ichiro is a Hall-of-Fame caliber player. If he'd played for some better Seattle teams, or had played more center field, his overall value would've been higher. His years in Japan of being one of the greatest players in their league cannot be dismissed, either. Even after some mediocre years with the Marlins, it was nice to see him return to the Mariners for a last hurrah. Plus, he's a classy guy and it's near impossible not to like him.

Here's to a great career, Ichiro!


Updated 3/21/2019