Bernie Williams has contributed much to the Yankees reaching the World Series but little to them winning it. While he has performed respectably in the Division Series and Championship Series, he has been brutal in the World Series. Williams’ complete post season record can be found at Baseball Reference (see links), and it is not enjoyable reading for Yankees fans.
Bernie has appeared in seventeen post season series, five of which were the World Series. The media emphasize his 16 post season homeruns, which are one more than Babe Ruth hit and only two fewer than all time leader Mickey Mantle has hit, but only 3 of the homeruns were hit in the World Series. Based on his 95 official at bats, Bernie is not even close to Ruth and Mantle with respect to frequency of World Series homeruns.
A more amazing and damaging statistic is that in twenty six World Series games, Bernie has only 9 runs batted in. In five World Series, he never batted above .231 and never hit more than a single home run in any single World Series. Only in 1996 did Bernie Williams make a significant contribution to a Yankees’ World Series victory.
The Atlanta Braves had embarrassed the Yankees in the first two games at Yankee Stadium, and now David Cone would face the Braves’ Tom Glavine in Game Three. It was a “must” game for the Yankees since no team had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a World Series.
Tim Raines led off the game for the Yankees with a walk. Derek Jeter sacrificed him to second base (yes, Joe Torre used to employ the bunt, even in the first inning), and Bernie delivered a clutch single to put the Yankees ahead for the first time in the series. Bernie later hit a homerun to extend the Yankees lead and did more than any Yankee, except for David Cone, to win the game.
