Bernie Williams is back in center

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernie Williams was in the center, just like the old days at Yankee Stadium. Only this time he was at Lincoln Center alongside conductor Gustavo Dudamel and making his New York Philharmonic debut.

After spending 16 years gaining fame while roaming the grass where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle once trod, Williams was on the stage made famous by Leonard Bernstein and where guitar great Andrés Segovia once played.

Williams performed “Moving Forward,” a jazz-infused work he composed in 2009 that was newly arranged by Jeff Tyzik as part of the orchestra’s spring gala on Wednesday night at David Geffen Hall, a public exclamation of the former All-Star outfielder’s second career as a classical guitarist.

A day before the performance, he recalled going to the Manhattan School of Music from 2012-16 to learn his new trade and earn a bachelor’s degree.