WATCH: Yankee great Bernie Williams plays national anthem to kick off all-star game

Baseball standout, recording artist and humanitarian returns to Trenton with a mission/

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You never know what you’re going to get at the playing of the Star Spangled Banner at a sporting event these days.

On Wednesday night, New York Yankee great Bernie Williams returned to Trenton, where he played a handful of games, to perform the National Anthem to kick off the Eastern League All-Star game at Arm & Hammer Park in Trenton, home of the host Trenton Thunder.

He did so like’s he’s done during other appearances – on guitar

Williams is a recording artist and Latin Grammy nominee.

In a pregame interview, Williams said he wasn’t planning to jazz up the anthem. “Well, I don’t really wanna mess with that. There’s a lot of things I mess with in my music career. The anthem will never be one of those.”

True to his word, he delivered a soulful but straightforward interpretation punctuated by an occasional tasteful embellishment, ending with an inspired bluesy run on the last note.

Earlier in the night, Williams also threw out a ceremonial first pitch.

He was also in attendance in support of the Breathless campaign to raise awareness of IPF (idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis) a rare lung disease that is often misdiagnosed and affects up to 132,000 Americans.

The disease claimed the life of his father.

As a member of four World Series championship teams, Williams holds the Major League record with 80 postseason runs batted in across 121 career playoff games.

Thunder players ready for special 2018 Eastern League All-Star Game

Michael Mancuso may be reached at mmancuso@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @michaelmancuso, Instagram @michaelmancuso and Facebook @michaelmancuso
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