For Williams, ‘Home Plate’ show is a real blast
Beloved Yankee is proud to bring his Puerto Rican heritage to YES
For longtime Yankees star Bernie Williams, the chance to share a piece of his culture through a new online series was a home run.
The former center fielder highlights Puerto Rican cuisine on the latest episode of “Home Plate,” a new show streaming on the YES App in which local athletes and celebrities visit New York restaurants that celebrate their heritages.
Williams, who was born in San Juan, believes it’s important for fans to learn about the players’ lives beyond what they see on the field.
“It’s kind of significant to actually get to know a little bit about the background and the upbringing and the experiences — in this case the culinary experiences — that makes the person who the person is. Obviously food is a very important element in that upbringing,” Williams told the Daily News.
“I think it’s really significant to get more of an insight on the players’ lives and all the positive things they’re doing.”
Williams’ episode of “Home Plate,” which is now streaming, sees him and host Marcus Samuelsson go to the Latin restaurant Counter & Bodega in Manhattan, where they sample dishes such as mofongos, piononos and sweet plantain and black bean empanadas.
The 53-year-old Williams also shared memories from his childhood and his Yankees career, during which he won four World Series championships.
His episode is the third in the “Home Plate” series to debut on the app, which YES Network launched in March. Previous shows featured Williams’ former Yankees teammate David Cone going to Hill Country BBQ, and Liberty star Michaela Onyenwere visiting the Nigerian restaurant Buka in Brooklyn.
The next episode, out Tuesday, will see “The Sopranos” actors Lorraine Bracco and Steve Schirripa go to the Italian eatery Enzo’s on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx.
“The diversity in culture is one of the things that makes New York the city it is,” Williams said. “I think the fact that we are able to experience that culture in the form of food and art — and when you cook food at that level, it becomes a bit of an art — I think it’s really, really great.”
Williams was also joined on the episode by his daughter Beatriz. Throughout the show, he fondly reflected on his family, including his father, Bernabé, who died in 2001 from the lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Since 2015, Williams has worked with the Breathless Campaign to spread awareness about the terminal illness.
“There’s a lot of people suffering from it in the United States,” Williams said. “It tends to attack more of the Latin community by percentages, so the campaign is geared to let people know that they’re not alone.”
Williams spent his entire MLB career with the Yankees, hitting .297 with 287 home runs and 1257 RBI across 16 seasons from 1991 to 2006. His uniform number 51 was retired by the Bombers in 2015.
A decade and a half after his final MLB game, Williams appreciates the way he’s still embraced by the team.
“I am very grateful to them to give me the opportunity to still be in the public eye when it comes to being a representative of the Yankee organization,” Williams said. “It’s a great honor.”