Bernie Williams Shares Memories of Clubhouse Jam Sessions and Meeting Bruce Springsteen

Bernie Williams.
Credit: Jim McIsaac/Getty; Adam Unger

NEED TO KNOW

• Former New York Yankees star Bernie Williams has always loved music.
• The baseball player retired in 2006 after a 16-year career in the MLB and has pursued music as a second act ever since.
• Williams, 57, is set to perform at Carnegie Hall in January 2026.

Bernie Williams dedicated his entire 16-year Major League Baseball career to the New York Yankees, becoming a celebrated All-Star centerfielder while also nurturing his musical talents.

The 57-year-old discussed his enduring passion for music and its journey from Yankee Stadium to Carnegie Hall in a recent interview.

“I started playing guitar around the same time I started playing baseball. I was around 8 years old,” Williams shared, recalling his upbringing in Puerto Rico, where his mother was an educator and his father a retired merchant mariner. “I started taking guitar lessons informally when I was 7 or 8 years old, and that sparked my love for music,” he added.

Williams attended a performing arts high school in San Juan, balancing classical music training with baseball practice. By 16, he was garnering attention from scouts and soon signed with the Yankees shortly after high school.

Bernie Williams.
Adam Unger

Williams did not have to sacrifice his musical aspirations for his illustrious baseball career. “I always kept my guitar with me, and I used to take it to the clubhouse and on bus and plane rides. It was something I cherished and enjoyed performing in front of my teammates,” he noted. “Music served me for everything — when I was sad, happy, pumped up, or angry.”

Over his career with the Yankees from 1991 to 2006, Williams achieved numerous accolades, including four Golden Glove awards, a Silver Slugger Award, the American League batting title in 1998, and the 1996 AL Championship Series MVP, in addition to winning four World Series championships.

In his off-time, Williams enjoyed jamming with teammates. After Paul O’Neill joined the Yankees in 1993, the pair held impromptu jam sessions. “We smuggled people in from the outside to have these great jam sessions that nobody ever knew about,” he recalled.

Another memorable moment came when Springsteen, a renowned Yankees fan, visited the locker room. “I took my guitar, and he signed it for me. He put ‘Bernie, if you ever get tired of baseball … Bruce Springsteen.’”

Bernie Williams.
[J. Melic — Getty Images Sport]

“Twenty years later, I am playing with him on the same stage at one of the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation dinners. It was like a quantum leap moment,” Williams said, reminiscing about performing an acoustic version of “Glory Days” with Springsteen and his wife.

At the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in 2009, he performed “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” delivering a rendition that was “melancholic” yet filled with gratitude for the game he loved.

Despite his passion for music, Williams chose not to have a walk-up song during the last years of his career, finding that music could be distracting during critical moments at the plate. “I needed to be completely focused on my plan of action,” he explained.

After retiring, Williams earned a Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music in 2016 and has since performed across the country. He received a Latin Grammy nomination in 2009 for his jazz album, Moving Forward.

Looking ahead, Williams is set to perform at Carnegie Hall on January 13, 2026, alongside famed tenor Jonathan Tetelman. That night will feature violinist Katia Reguero Lindor and special guests such as former basketball player Stephon Marbury and journalist Darren Rovell.

Jonathan Tetelman, Bernie Williams.
Adam Unger

Fans can anticipate a “mix of very eclectic performances,” according to Williams. “I am so grateful to be able to collaborate with Jonathan Tetelman. We’re gonna have instrumental tunes, my compositions and covers of arrangements, blending operatic classical music with pop, Latin, jazz, and the American Songbook.”

To Williams, preparing for a major performance mirrors the dedication required for a World Series Game, emphasizing the importance of consistent practice. “When the light is on you, you need to be ready,” he asserted. “You can rely on your preparation to get you through.”