Bernie

UPDATE:

Glad to be wrong. The Yanks did offer Bernie arbitration which Bernie is almost certain to decline. Yanks now have until December 19 to make an offer and Bernie until Jan. 8 to decide.

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If the Yankees don't offer Bernie Williams arbitration in the next five hours or so Bernie's days in pinstripes are done. Mike Lupica has a fitting tribute to Bernie.

It doesn't change that when you talk about all the center fielders in the history of the New York Yankees, there is DiMaggio, there is Mantle, there is Williams. It is not such a terrible way to run third.
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"There is such a thing as Yankee character, and it's real," Reggie Jackson said yesterday. "If you want to trace it all the way back, you'd have to say it starts with Lou Gehrig. Character plus class. Bernie's been that kind of class, and he's been that kind of Yankee.

"There are special Yankees, and special people. Bernie's been both. He would have fit in on any great Yankee team of any era, and he would have delivered the way he always did with the money on the table. And the whole time, he never made it about him. What was good for him was good for the Yankees."

Finally Jackson said, "One of those quiet, special guys. They tell me Bobby Richardson was like that. Catfish Hunter was always like that. Bernie's been like that. It's why in my heart, I hope he's not going anywhere."

I think Bernie's gone. But DiMaggio, Mantle, Williams. That's got a nice ring to it.