Making the move from baseball player to jazz musician has been quite a challenge for Bernie Williams.
“It did not matter how many home runs I hit,” the Yankees legend told Cheddar. “What mattered was, can this guy play [music]?...I had to work very hard to get my [music] degree and I’m very proud of it.”
The Latin Grammy nominee says that winning baseball games was easier than his second career. He earned a degree in jazz performance from the Manhattan School of Music in 2016 and describes the process as “one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
Williams, a four-time World Series champ and five-time MLB All Star, is prepping for a debut at Café Carlyle on March 6.
And he said maybe surprisingly, the process isn’t much different from what he was used to on the field.
“A lot of the things that I did in baseball, outside of the physical aspect of it, came from the same source,” Williams said. “It’s a commitment to discipline, work ethics, no shortcuts, learning from your mistakes, and taking yourself seriously in both disciplines.
“The only difference is that when playing baseball, I can detach from the fans, I could detach from the audience … As a musician, you have to go on stage and invite everybody into your world.”
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/yankees-great-bernie-williams-is-ready-for-his-cafe-carlyle-debut).
PGA Tour leaders defended its merger deal with Saudi Arabia's LIV Golf tour before a Homeland Security subcommittee on Tuesday.
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Pro surfer Mikala Jones has died at 44 in a freak accident.
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Northwestern University fired its head football coach Pat Fitzgerald over allegations of hazing. Fitzgerald said he was "disappointed" to learn of the allegations.
A new pickleball venue has just opened up in Connecticut in a most unlikely location: a former department store. Here's an inside look.
Northwestern fired coach Pat Fitzgerald on Monday amid a hazing scandal that called into question his leadership of the program and damaged the university's reputation after it mishandled its response to the allegations.
The New York Times is disbanding its sports department and will rely on coverage from The Athletic, a website it acquired last year for $550 million.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you are opening a bottle of Champagne don’t do it as the player is about to serve. Thank you,” Australian umpire John Blom announced just after the start of a match on No. 3 Court.
Randall Stephenson resigned from the PGA Tour policy board over the tour's proposed deal with Saudi Arabia.
