Steinbrenner had seen Williams during his one off year in 1989 play a few games at Albany, and based on that insanely small sample turned off to the kid completely. Too soft for me, he spat to anyone in the organization he saw. Which is what he always thought about Andy Pettitte as well. "If only Williams had Andy Stankiewicz's (feisty) heart, then we'd really have something," was the company line. And that year, the Boss desperately wanted to trade him to the White Sox for Harold Baines – until then-GM Syd Thrift talked him out of it. ...

To this day, Thrift calls his "saving of Bernie Williams" his greatest act during his five-month tenure as Yankees GM.

Williams survived to make it to the big club in 1991, but in those first couple of seasons, playing on and off and seemingly with one eye looking over his shoulder toward the owner's box, he couldn't find his comfort zone and didn't really make his mark.

"Mostly in '91, but even in '92, I felt I had to show something every day," he said that day in '93. "It didn't affect me once I was (on the field), but it affected my preparation. I was dying inside; I just never showed it." ...

"I'll always," he said, locking onto my eyes, "have to fight to stay here."