Bernie Williams stopped being a baseball player in 2006. Being a musician, however, is his lifelong endeavor.

Williams' father brought a guitar back from a trip to Spain when the former Yankees center fielder was 7, and Williams fell in love with music after the first few chords.

“I thought I was gonna be a musician,” he said. “This whole thing with the Yankees sort of came along, and I couldn't pass up the opportunity.”

Williams won an American League batting title and four World Series in 16 major-league seasons. He kept playing the guitar along the way and after leaving the game transitioned into a professional jazz musician, releasing two albums and earning a Latin Grammy nomination.

But he's still at the minor-league level of musicianship in his mind.

“I am certainly not anything (like I was) as a baseball player right now,” he said. “I am making my way into making myself a musician good enough that I can do studio work, that I can collaborate with different people and have a professional-grade level of musicality.”

Being part of the Yankees' dynasty will always mean something to Williams, but he takes pride in trying to succeed in a totally different realm.

“It's not about the World Series championships, it's not about the numbers,” Williams said. “It's about how much better you can make the world after you live in it. I think that's why music is such an important thing in my life right now.”

Williams said he looks at Beethoven, Mozart and jazz greats like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong the way he used to admire Roberto Clemente and other Puerto Rican ballplayers.