Williams

NEW YORK – Bernie Williams left his father's hospital bed and rejoined the New York Yankees after Bernabe Williams Sr. pointed at his son and stretched his arms out like the wings on an airplane.

"That's when I knew he was better and it was time to go," Williams said Friday after returning to Yankee Stadium.

After 11 days in Puerto Rico, Williams started in center field and batted cleanup Friday night against the Boston Red Sox. He was 0-for-3 with a walk and scored a run in the Yankees' 6-1 victory.

Williams took batting practice, ran and threw a baseball the last few days to prepare for his return. His teammates hugged him when he walked through the locker room. Many of them have dealt with illness and death in their own families recently.

"He's had a lot more on his mind than baseball," manager Joe Torre said. "We've gone through this with different people on this team, where it puts baseball in perspective."

Only a few days earlier, Williams didn't know when he could return. His 73-year-old father grabbed his arm and held on tightly when Bernie asked whether he could rejoin the Yankees and come back to Puerto Rico later. He interpreted it as a clear signal to stay.

"Baseball is only a small part of my life when something that significant happens," Williams said. "All my thoughts and prayers and focus was on my father's situation. I was watching the highlights and finding the results, but all my thoughts were on my dad."

Bernabe Williams is suffering from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung condition that has gotten progressively worse in recent years.

Williams' brother called him on April 9, when the team was in Kansas City to tell him that he should come home to be with his father. At various points during Williams' 1 1/2-week beside vigil, he admitted he thought his father would die.

"He will eventually die from this condition," he said. "At what point the condition progresses, we don't know. We can do things to stop it for a while, but it will keep progressing until he stops breathing."

Williams was taken out of intensive care on Thursday and is expected to go home within two to three days.

His normally private son was frank and emotional Friday, talking about how his father taught him baseball and how helpless he felt seeing him in the hospital.

"I realized there are a lot of things in life that you can't control," he said. "I can have all the money in the world, but I can't make my dad get better. With all the fame and accomplishments in my life, there are some things I still can't change."

After winning their first three games without their All-Star center fielder, the Yankees struggled in Boston and Toronto, losing five of seven games to their AL East rivals.

But the team never pressured Williams to come back – a sentiment Williams appreciated.

"It was hard watching and knowing that I couldn't control the outcome of the games," Williams said. "The fact that I wasn't helping them was very frustrating for me. I felt like I should be there playing, but the time down here was worth it."

Williams' thoughts still are with his father, but he doesn't feel he will have a hard time concentrating on his job – at least during the games.