Bernie Williams and Paul Konerko were responsible for delivering World Series championships for their former clubs. Their memorable careers were honored over the weekend.
The New York Yankees retired Williams' No. 51 and unveiled a plaque for the former All-Star outfielder in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on Sunday. The 46-year-old hasn't played since 2006, but he didn't retire until last month.
Williams spent 16 seasons with the Yankees and helped the club win four World Series titles in 1996 (during which he won the MVP of the ALCS), 1998, 1999 and 2000. He won four Gold Glove awards, one Silver Slugger award and a batting title (in 1998) with a .339 average. On top of that, he has the most postseason RBIs in MLB history (80) and is second with 22 postseason home runs.
"I've been thinking about this day for a while," Williams said in front of the crowd at Yankee Stadium. "Coming to the field, to me it reminded me of going to a playoff game. I started feeling the butterflies in my stomach, almost the way I felt coming to play in a really important game."
Williams owns a career stat line of .297/.381/.477 with 1,366 runs scored, 287 home runs and 1,257 RBIs in 2,076 career games.
Check out the retirement ceremony below:
On the south side of Chicago, the White Sox did the same on Saturday with former first baseman Paul Konerko, who helped the club to a World Series title in 2005 - the franchise's first since 1917. The 39-year-old spent 16 seasons in Chicago before hanging up his cleats at the end of 2014 and had his No. 14 retired less than a year later.
Konerko batted .279/.354/.486 with 1,162 runs scored, 439 home runs and 1,412 RBIs in 2,349 career games. His best season came in 2004 when he slashed .277/.359/.535 with 84 runs scored, 41 home runs and 117 RBIs. During the club's World Series run in 2005, Konerko won MVP of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels and smacked five home runs and 15 RBIs in the 12 postseason games that year. He was a six-time All-Star as well.
Check out Konerko's number retirement ceremony below:
