By Paul Semendinger
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The number is already his, for eternity, I assume.
#51.
Bernie Williams.
For now at least, until #52 gets retired for C.C. Sabathia, #51 is the highest of the Yankees retired numbers.
And Bernie was one of the great Yankees.
Absolutely and positively.
Bernie ranks in the Top-10 All-Time in Yankees history in the following areas:
WAR (position Players) – 10th
Offensive WAR – 6th
Games Played – 6th
At Bats – 4th
Plate Appearances – 5th
Runs Scored – 6th
Hits – 5th
Total Bases – 6th
Doubles – 3rd
Home Runs – 7th
Runs Batted In – 7th
Walks – 5th
Bernie Williams was a five-time All-Star. He won four Gold Gloves. He was on four World Championship teams.
Bernie Williams was a leader, the center fielder, during one of the great Yankees eras.
In post season play, Williams hit 22 homers and drove home 80 runs.
Yeah, #51 is his.
One of the best. A Yankees legend. And one of my favorite players of all time.
Bernie Williams – the greatest ever to wear #51.
***
The following players also wore #51, but together all combined, they didn’t have the career that Bernie Williams had:
Frank Leja, Jim Coates, Gordie Windhorn, Pete Mikkelsen, Tony Solita, Ron Klimkowski, Terry Whitfield, Larry McCall, Cecilio Guante, and Chuck Cary.
Wow. It isn’t even close.
At all.
***
Most of the background research for this project came from Baseball-Reference.com.
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