Bernie Williams' favorite Yankees home run is a totally forgotten option

When you think of Bernie Williams, you picture the underrated engine of the New York Yankees dynasty, calmly floating up to both sides of the plate and smoothly swinging his bat in a whip-quick loop. Or maybe you picture him canonically gliding across the outfield, swooping into a gentle slide for a whispered exclamation point. Like a duck on the pond, his legs were always churning beneath, but if you watched him move, swing, or put his head down and score, you'd never know.

It's not always as easy as Williams made it look. The Yankees Dynasty we all know and swear by had moments of doubt, too. They had prolonged slumps. They mixed magic with malfeasance in the 2001 World Series. But, even when things were less than ideal, and they were caught in between, they always seemed to know how to steer out of it.

That ability to shake things off defined what Williams called his "funniest" home run in a Yankees uniform, which was his immediate response to the question of what was his favorite.

With so many iconic moments, it's nearly impossible to choose — but that didn't make him singling out a summer night in Oakland any less surprising.

Yankees slugger Bernie Williams' favorite home run in pinstripes is one you probably forgot

"I'm facing Mike Oquist in Oakland, bases loaded, and I kinda walked, thinking that I was walking, but it was actually Ball 3? And everybody made fun of me," Williams recalled. "The next pitch? I hit out for a grand slam."

The game in question was August 9, 1999, one of the numerous muggy dog days that make up a baseball season, interminable when it's going poorly and far too short when the good times are flowing, as they were in '99. Oquist relieved a struggling Jimmy Haynes, and allowed Williams' granny in an eight-run second frame.

Of course, this piece of nostalgia, viewed through rose-colored glasses, did have a distinct modern Yankees flavor, too, as Hideki Irabu allowed four runs in the bottom of the inning to make it a game again. Can never get too comfortable, though we can certainly laugh about it now.

When pressed about all of the great home runs that didn't spark Williams' immediate joy quite as much as this Oquist bomb — I tried Rod Beck in '99, he countered with Randy Myers in '96 — it's clear that this oddball moment must've meant a lot to a Yankees team looking to keep their energy level up as they sought a repeat title and their second play-til-the-end October. Clearly, Williams trying to walk, getting busted, and finishing the at-bat with a flourish was a galvanizing moment.

Like we said ... even when Williams briefly didn't look smooth, he always knew how to save it.