Musician Bernie Williams said last night he has a new CD coming out in April called “Moving Forward.”
Just in case any GMs like Brian Cashman are interested, Williams also said he has not shut the door on his baseball career. Williams, 40, is not totally ready to move forward away from baseball. Playing in the new Yankee Stadium would be a dream come true for the legendary Yankee center fielder, always a fan favorite.
It was announced last night that Williams would play a major role in the new movie “Keeper of the Pinstripes.” When asked by The Post if he would like to play in the new Yankee Stadium in 2009 — the Yankees do have a need — Williams’ eyes grew wide as he said, “Absolutely, yeah. Who wouldn’t?
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, especially with the way that Stadium is looking and to be a part of that experience,” Williams said at the Cutting Room on 24th Street. “It would be great.”
This just may be dream talk and movie hype, but Williams is convinced he could still play, and not just in a movie, if the opportunity presented itself.
“I’m looking to keeping my options open, keep working out,” explained Williams, who last played in 2006. “It’s been a great two years. I’ve had the opportunity to do things that I never really had the opportunity to do when I was playing. I had the chance to travel. Take my kids to school, watch my kid graduate from high school, a lot of things that I never would have never had the opportunity to do if I had been playing the game.”
He still has a hunger for the game and never officially retired. Williams is one of the most popular Yankees of all time. In 2006 he batted .281. Williams could be the perfect mentor for a young player like Brett Gardner, who batted .228 in his 127 Yankee at-bats last season. Williams, looking fit and solid, said it would only take a “matter of weeks” to get into baseball shape.
Williams’ musical career, though, is soaring and his business agent Steve Fortunato said that is where Williams is concentrating his efforts. The movie will be directed by Robby Benson, of “One on One” fame and Josh Lucas, who starred as basketball coach Don Haskins in “Glory Road” will play Thurman Munson. The movie is based on a series of Yankees children books by Ray Negron and is the first movie fully endorsed by the Yankees since Pride of the Yankees.
In the movie, Williams will play the part of a street musician, who eventually winds up in Pinstripes – art perhaps imitating life.