WasWatching.com

//Leadership? Bernie is famous for ducking out of the clubhouse ASAP to avoid having to deal with the media.//
Famous? Show me... Bernie has never been the quotable type, and sharing the clubhouse with Wells, Cone, Jeter, Sheffield, to name a few, as a reporter, Williams wouldn't be the first person I'd come to for a story. Leadership is overrated, anyway. Yanks haven't won a WS since 2000; did Jeter forget how to lead all of a sudden?

//On the field, he never worked at all to address the shortcomings in his game.//
We've been through this before. No matter how much work you put in, you're never going to have a good throwing arm if you don't have one to begin with. As for baserunning, either you have it, or you don't. And in the grand scheme of things, it really hasn't mattered much; look at the number of runs the Yanks have scored in the last 10 years...

//Was he leading when he showed up extremely late to Game 6 of the 2001 World Series?//
What was the reason given behind showing up late? Did he flake? Something happen with the family? Was he given the ok to come in late? Tom Browning left in the middle of a WS game while his wife was giving birth... Point being there could be more to it than we know.

All I know about Game 6 of the 2001 WS is that "it got late early" that night. I don't think Bernie missing BP or whatever else he missed would've changed the fact that Andy P. dropped a stinker in Phoenix that reeked all the way back here...

Steve, one of your hopes (or at least one of mine), seems to have come true.
http://www.yanksblog.com/item/404

Willie Randolph, who lived with the Yankees day-in and day-out for 10 years, would welcome Bernie to his team as a veteran leader and role model for his young players. Yet Steve Lomabardi, who hasn't spent 5 minutes with Bernie or the team has divined through his various Google searches that Bernie's leadership qualities are "laughable."

Give me a break.

Joel, I met my wife through a google search. You can't underestimate the power of the web.

just joking. seriously.

James - thanks for the heads-up.

Raf, Curtis was taught how to throw from the OF, to make up for an INFers arm. And, many have learned on how to get better jumps on the bases. The skills that Bernie lacked could have be improved with learning, etc.

As far as the 2001 WS, it was enough to have Jeter get in his face in the lockeroom and yell at him. That tells me it was not a good situation.

As far as me not knowing Bernie, etc. Well, yes, I'm only going by what I see on TV, read in the papers, and hear from friends who have Yankees-connections. Therefore, of course, you have to factor that in when you read what I write.

It's an opinion. That's all I can offer and all I aim to offer. If you choose not to agree, hey, that's what the comments section is for! ;-)

I don't understand why people get so upset at hearing that Bernie might have a less than Jerry Rice-esque work ethic, and might be kinda a flake. Does that make him a bad guy? Not at all. Chill out, your heroes have feet of clay, so what. So does everyone elses.

It's the bat and glove of clay that bother me. And, if someone says "that's OK, he's good for the club in other ways" - well, I want to see how that's true.

As far as the 2001 WS, it was enough to have Jeter get in his face in the lockeroom and yell at him. That tells me it was not a good situation.
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Quick search on the net, Bernie missed the team bus. Reason why that happened, I have no idea.

Anyway, looking at the boxscore of that game, Bernie probably was better off staying at the hotel; the game was over early... Perhaps, Jeter should've gotten in Pettitte and Witasick's face?

FWIW, gm 6

BW: 1-2, 2BB
DJ: 0-2, 1K

For the series (BA-OBP-SLG)
BW: .208-.321-.250
DJ: .148-.179-.259

Perhaps Bernie should've gotten in Jeter's face?