Empire Of The Son/NY Post
Signs are all four want to continue to run it for their father’s memory, but also for their children’s future.
“I think their family loves this,” Yankees GM Brian Cashman said. “They are all involved. They like it. This is their life. It is a part of them. Their name is branded on the team. They already delivered a championship for [George], and now they want to deliver more.”
Team president Randy Levine added: “They have no plans to sell. There are no succession issues.”
We all know how badly George Steinbrenner wanted to win. He dug deep down into his pockets to put the best product on the field. The Boss also had a way of owning the newspaper headlines in New York. I haven’t seen the hunger for the back page out of Hal Steinbrenner, but I don’t think you can question his passion for winning. From what we’ve seen so far, it seems like they have followed in their father’s footsteps when it comes to acquiring big-name players (Sabathia, Burnett, Teixeira). Let’s not forget that just a few years ago, old George allowed the little elephants into the tent. That means that Hal and Hank have run the day-to-day operations of the team since their father’s health started to decline.
Instead, Hal had taken a few key criteria from his dad: Keep the payroll, star power and attention to the brand high. But he has added a few distinctly non-George elements. He is way more analytical than his go-with-your-gut father. He is demanding, but not a yeller or quick to demean or threaten. He will bend sometimes on payroll, as he did with Mark Teixeira. But unlike his dad, he will not be influenced nearly as much by the smell of a championship or the whiff of sentimentality.
Why sell the Yankees? To me, it seems like that’s the life they’ve always known. They grew up with a father that demanded excellence and drove a team that was in the ground, to the top of the sports world. You figure they would want to carry that legacy for many more years. With all that said, I wouldn’t expect the Steinbrenner’s to announce they were selling the team right after their father passed away. IF they were to ever sell the team, the big concern would be whether those people had a drive to do anything in their power to win a World Series. The goal every year in New York is to win the Fall Classic, and anything short of that is considered a failure. I think the general feeling is that the Steinbrenner family will continue to own the New York Yankees franchise. The only question is…for how long? According to a team consultant, the Steinbrenner’s will keep the Yanks “forever.”
M. B. Rozell
Kevin Rozell
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