NEW YORK -- It was three hours before Carl Pavano would throw the season's first pitch, and Joe Torre's telephone was ringing. The voice on the other end was a familiar one, and it made the Yankees manager break into a grin.
Bernie Williams, the longtime veteran outfielder and a cornerstone of the team's four most recent World Series championship rosters, had checked in to wish his club luck for the coming season.
"It was very nice," Torre said. "It certainly put a smile on my face. He was the same guy: 'How you doing, you ready to go?' He's a caring individual, and I think that's what makes him so special."
Williams, 38, did not accept a standing non-roster invitation to the Yankees' Spring Training, and Torre has expressed regret that Williams didn't report to Tampa, Fla. As the manager has said, no one will ever know what could have happened in that camp.
So as the Yankees and Devil Rays lined the chalk at Yankee Stadium on Monday, an April chill cutting through the air, Williams was miles away, preparing for the reality of missing his first Opening Day experience in 16 years. After a brief conversation, Torre passed the telephone along to some of Williams' longtime teammates.
Mariano Rivera, who has now dropped his belongings into Williams' corner locker as the longest-tenured player in pinstripes, was nowhere to be found.
But both Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada were nearby and found their way to the line, greeting their soft-spoken former teammate, exchanging new cell phone numbers and accepting his well wishes for the coming season.
"He sounded pretty positive," Posada said. "Bernie's going to miss it more than us."
Jeter said that the concept of Williams not being in a Yankees uniform was "weird at first," but he believes the team has -- for the most part -- adjusted to the reality.
Small reminders do pop up now and again, though; Jeter said that Williams always used to take the seat behind the captain's on Yankees team charters, passing the hours of flight by strumming some licks on his guitar.
"I didn't have to listen to that [on] this trip," Jeter said.
Torre said that Williams still has not completely ruled out the idea that he could play in the Major Leagues this season. Posada said he believed that Williams would be physically capable of pulling off a return, though the Yankees -- as of now -- do not appear to have any place for Williams to play.
"It's all up to him," Posada said. "I have no idea. It'd be a tough thing to do, especially being 38. I'm pretty sure he can do it if he puts his mind to it."
