Yanks Tell Reggie To Stay Away

From Buster Olney:

After Reggie Jackson's disparaging comments about Alex Rodriguez and others last week, he was essentially benched by the Yankees and told to stay away from team events indefinitely, according to AL sources.

Jackson was not in Boston over the weekend, where the Yankees played the Red Sox.

Jackson, a special adviser for the Yankees, usually is around the team.

But at this time, there is enough anger at the Hall of Famer from within the organization that the team has decided that he should keep his distance until otherwise determined.

"A cooling off period, but not a death penalty," a source with knowledge of the team's thinking called it when speaking to ESPNNewYork.com's Andrew Marchand.

At some point, Jackson is expected to be back with the team, the source said.

Olney also mentions that Jackson apologized to Joe Girardi and other team officials, as well as A-Rod himself.

To me, Reggie did nothing wrong and shouldn't have been forced to apologize or stay away from the team. After all, the quote in the article was pretty harmless:

"Al's a very good friend. But I think there are real questions about his numbers. As much as I like him, what he admitted about his usage does cloud some of his records."

The Yankees are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion.

Would The Boss have reacted this way? I don't think so, and I'd bet he'd be pretty disappointed.

The only thing that matters here is that Alex Rodriguez brought this on himself when he decided to cheat the game, and he's not the victim here. If anyone is, it's Reggie.

... Well, and maybe some of those HOF'ers he ripped in the article, too.

Yankee Brass Discuss The Boss's XL Monument

From the NY Daily News:

Not even the Yankees can deny the monument unveiled in honor of late owner George Steinbrenner on Monday dwarfs legends such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in Monument Park.

However, they aren't about to apologize for it, either.

"We think the monument is a tribute to the man The Boss was, larger than life. His spirit is encompassed by that monument, and there was no intention to make it bigger than the others just for the sake of doing it," team president Randy Levine told the Daily News before Tuesday night's game against the Rays. "We just felt that it was The Boss, the greatest owner in sports. He built (the new) Yankee Stadium. He did so much for so many people. And he made the Yankee brand a worldwide one and took it to heights that never have been reached.

"It was not made bigger in an attempt to have it be larger than the others. We just wanted to represent the spirit of George Steinbrenner."

Steinbrenner's bust measures seven feet wide by five feet high - not including the base - and weighs 760 pounds.

Chief operating officer Lonn Trost said he and Senior VP of marketing Debbie Tymon worked with U.S. Bronze to commission the piece and that everything about the monument ultimately was approved by the Steinbrenner family.

"Mr. Steinbrenner always was so proud of Monument Park and now it's as if he's overseeing the other monuments and plaques and the tradition that reside there," Tymon said.

Is the monument too large? Yes, and it would have made more sense to me if it was like the other monuments. But at the same time, I can't say I'm upset by it. It is what it is, let's move on to things that matter.

Torre and Mattingly Will Be At The Stadium Tomorrow

From Bill Madden:

So big is the Yankees' commemoration of a monument to George Steinbrenner at Yankee Stadium Monday night that Joe Torre and Don Mattingly are going to end their estrangement with the team to attend the ceremonies.

The Daily News has learned that Yankee brass extended an invitation to both Torre, the former Yankee manager who won four World Championships with the team before leaving under acrimonious circumstances after the 2007 season, and Mattingly, who joined Torre as batting coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers after being passed over as Yankee manager for Joe Girardi that same year, agreed to attend.

...

It will mark the first time since either Torre or Mattingly left the Yankees that they have been at Yankee Stadium, the old or the new.

Wow, it should be a very special night in the Bronx..... I may need to buy a couple tickets for this one.

Steinbrenner to be Honored in Monument Park

Here's a statement from the Yankees:

"We remain profoundly grateful and touched by the many expressions of sympathy and support from so many. We wish to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and prayers, which we continue to hold close. We are especially appreciative that our family's privacy was respected as we grieved the loss of George.

We know we will always share George's memory with Yankees fans everywhere, and a monument in his honor to be located in Monument Park will reflect the special connection, appreciation and responsibility that George felt for New York Yankees' fans everywhere as they were always uppermost in his mind."

The Monument Park dedication will be held in New York on Monday, September 20, 2010 at Yankee Stadium, prior to that evening's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Should be a nice ceremony, he certainly deserves it.

New Tribute to The Boss in the Bronx

The Original Boss: Jacob Ruppert

From Richard Sandomir:

Keith Olbermann, the MSNBC anchor and baseball historian, said at Old-Timers’ Day last Saturday that Steinbrenner is so deserving that veterans committee voters should convene this winter rather than wait until the next scheduled election in late 2011.

But if Steinbrenner is deserving, what about Jacob Ruppert, his most important predecessor?

First with his co-owner Tillinghast L. Huston, and then as the sole owner, Ruppert established the Yankees as a dominant franchise and the sort of business that, when it thrived, was compared for its power to U.S. Steel.

If he were alive, Ruppert would be talking about the power of branding and would have understood the value of a owning a cable channel, as Steinbrenner did when he launched the YES Network.

In the Ruppert era that started with his purchasing the team in 1915 for less than $500,000 and lasted until his death in 1939, the Yankees truly became the Yankees: Babe Ruth was bought from the Boston Red Sox, Yankee Stadium was built, Lou Gehrig created his own legend, and the Yankees won seven World Series — a better postseason winning percentage over a shorter period time than Steinbrenner’s.

“Ruppert laid the foundation for this remarkable franchise,” said Marty Appel, who is writing a book about the Yankees’ history. “He had an eye for the superstars who would put fannies in the seats, as George did.”

Glenn Stout, author of “Yankees Century,” said by e-mail: “I’ve always, always thought Ruppert should have been a slam-dunk Hall of Famer.” But he said that Ruppert’s battles with the American League president Ban Johnson and anti-German sentiment after World War II might have hurt his chances of induction.

Still, he said: “How else should an owner be measured, rather than by his record and impact on the game? Ruppert qualifies on both counts.”

Ruppert was a fan who loved to see his teams roll up early leads but was savvy enough to have the right people run the franchise. From Boston, he hired Ed Barrow as his business manager (the equivalent of the general manager). Running the farm system was George Weiss, a future general manager. Weiss and Barrow were long ago elected to the Hall, as were Miller Huggins and Joe McCarthy, two of the managers during Ruppert’s reign.

“Back in the day, nobody gave owners credit for making ball clubs successful,” said John Thorn, a baseball historian. “With the Yankees, Ed Barrow got the credit.”

...

Memories of Ruppert have faded since his death. He had no children and never married. His heirs sold the Yankees in 1945 to Del Webb and Dan Topping, who had great October successes with Weiss as their general manager; Webb and Topping sold the team to CBS, which sold it to Steinbrenner.

Ruppert never made it to the veterans committee ballot until 2009, when he fell two votes short of the nine needed to be elected.

“When I was in high school and college, I thought it was remarkable that he wasn’t in the hall,” said K. Jacob Ruppert, Ruppert’s great-grandnephew. “Surely, I felt he would’ve been elected in the 1950s.”

Personally, I feel that both Steinbrenner and Ruppert should be in the Hall. It's a shame that neither man will be alive if and when that day comes.

Lupica: This Ain't George's Yankees Anymore

From Mike Lupica:

They're not your old man's Yankees anymore, and won't ever be again.

If you saw the whole movie with the old man, not just the second act, you know that is not entirely a bad thing.

For now, the people in charge of the Yankees, starting with the Steinbrenner heirs, are able to spend money and watch the money roll in. It doesn't make anybody a baseball Warren Buffett. Maybe they even watch the Yankees win a second title in a row in the fall. The old man, George Steinbrenner, came in with two straight titles, at the end of the 1970s, and that was another time when people began to assume the Yankees would be on top forever.

The way they were going to be on top forever after they won four World Series in five years through the Subway Series of 2000.

We'll see about that. And we'll see if the team is going to stay in the family forever. We hear that now. It's all over coverage in the media of Hal Steinbrenner especially, coverage that can only be described this way: Please like me best.

But the Yankees, with the old man gone, won't be evaluated, from this point forward, on what anybody says or what anybody tells us. They will be evaluated on what they do.

We will find out in different ways, the way we did this week when no Yankee players, not a single one, past or present, attended Bob Sheppard's funeral. It is not the end of the world, or a sign of one. Just quite revealing, even as the Yankees tried to blame the media. Of course.

In another time, when the old man was around, there would have been more of a Yankee presence than that. The Yankees like to Yankee things up when it suits them, and when it is good for business. Then it all becomes practically a religious ceremony. Just not Bob Sheppard's ceremony.

"George loved being in charge," a baseball team executive from another part of the country told me this week. "But he loved the Yankees more. Now you have people in charge, like Hal, and (Randy) Levine and even Brian (Cashman), who love the power."

It doesn't mean that Hal and Hank Steinbrenner and their sisters are going to decide in a couple of years to sell the team. But just because we are being told that they won't doesn't mean that they won't, even if their father dying when he did was like one last stroke of business genius, saving his kids about half-a-billion in estate taxes because of a hole in the tax laws that will surely be closed by the end of this year.

And if the politicians try to come back at families like the Steinbrenners, and somehow hit them for that tax money retroactively, it still doesn't mean they'll sell.

He goes on to praise Hal for his work on building last year's championship team, but still wonders where the team will go from here. It's a questions that I'm sure is on the minds of most Yankees fans as we officially enter the post-George era.

We'll see if there are big thinkers around now, not just big spenders. We'll see about a lot of things. For now, people say all the right things. The people around Hal try to do what they did with the old man, which means tell him what he wants to hear.

They keep calling this a family business. Only it was never that until the old man started to fade. The family business was him.

Good point. It was the Boss's business and nothing else for a long time, and if you ask me, this is all on one person and not the family as a whole. And than man is Hal Steinbrenner. He was giving the reigns when Hank proved to be nothing more than an attention grabbing loudmouth, and it will be up to Hal to continue to keep the Yankees right where they're supposed to be: at the top of the baseball world.

Add Another Idiot to the List

I already spoke about the remarks of Rush Limbaugh and Muhammad Cohen (He happens to be a native New Yorker and not British as I stated before. Either way, he's still an idiot.). Now, it's former Red Sox pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee:

Lee, who pitched for the Red Sox for 10 seasons, ripped Steinbrenner in a TV interview.

"Trust me, if hell freezes over, he'll be skating," Lee told a reporter for WMUR-9 in Manchester, N.H.

... Lee began the 58-second interview by saying, "As far as Steinbrenner's passing? Good."

During the 1976 season, Lee famously broke his collarbone during a brawl between the Yankees and Red Sox when Graig Nettles tackled him.

Lee said Steinbrenner tried to have him kicked out of the game after the fight. "Steinbrenner tried to have me banned from baseball," he said.

"He said I was an incompetent and I was bad for the game of baseball. Well, I'm not a convicted felon like George Steinbrenner, and he'll take that to his grave."

When the reporter asked Lee if he had any sadness about Steinbrenner dying, Lee said, "I have no sadness. I'm Irish; I'm Catholic, and when you're gone, you're gone."

What a douchebag. Really, that's all I have to say about that.

George Steinbrenner: "The Only Thing I Care About Is The Yankees Fans"

Greg's Note: I understand we've already had a tribute or two to "The Boss", however, he was so much an integral part of what this team is that I felt another one wouldn't hurt. Also JBigman wanted me to pass along this note:

Is there any doubt that both "The Boss" and Bob Sheppard should both be Hall of Fame bound? Let's start a drive to get both enshrined. Better late than never.

.... Now on to Patrick's article:

I wrote this the day that Mr. Steinbrenner passed away.

I wrote a post today about my five favorite quotes of The Boss. My favorite one was spoken at the introductory press conference after he bought the Yankees from CBS in 1973. He said, "We [ownership group] plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned." Well, I can confidently say that The Boss was not being entirely truthful that day.

It is not often that ESPN will stop running practically every sports story because they are covering the death of someone from the sports world. However, Mr. Steinbrenner was an American legend. Due to his work as owner of the New York Yankees, the brand has stretched from America to Japan and seemingly everywhere else in the world. The Yankees are easily the most recognized American sports team around the world and that is because of The Boss.

I was watching videos throughout the day that were remembering him, and I came across a different quote from the one mentioned above. The following quote epitomized his drive to win a World Series title every season. Steinbrenner said, "The only thing I care about is the Yankees fans. I could care less what the other people or detractors say. It really doesn't bother me." That statement is how I will remember George M. Steinbrenner III. Not only did Steinbrenner return the Yankees to prominence over his 37 years at the helm, but he also expanded upon the great Yankee tradition.

He bought the Yankees from CBS in 1973, along with a few other businessmen, for $8.8 million, and the Yankees are now worth a reported $1.5 billion! It is not often in the sports world that the owner's legacy matches that of the players, past and present, especially when it comes to the Yankees. However, The Boss accomplished just that as he will be remembered in the same breath as Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio, Berra, and countless others, as a Yankee legend.

George Steinbrenner's father, Henry, instilled in his son the necessity to win. His father died in 1983 and was unable to see how much of a global icon his son would become over the next 20 plus years. The "win at all costs" mentality that Henry Steinbrenner demanded from George had clearly been maximized in the biggest market with the biggest franchise in all of sports. I would say that Mr. Steinbrenner's father, at times his biggest detractor, would be very proud of what his son accomplished as owner of the Yankees.

Many people don't know that Steinbrenner was arguably the most philanthropic sportsmen of all-time. The reason is because his father once told him, "If you do something good for someone, and more than two people know about it, you didn't do it for the right reason." He sent countless kids to college, gave millions of dollars to the Jimmy Fund (official charity of the Red Sox), continued to pay former Yankee managers and executives who had been long retired, gave second chances to players that had fallen on hard times (Strawberry, Gooden, Howe), and gave more money to New York City than most of us will earn in a lifetime.

He was also a very patriotic man, and loved America, even more than he did his Yankees. Among the many tributes from people around the country today, one significant message came from Larry Probst, Chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee, who said:

"Today we mourn the loss of one of this country's most iconic sports figures. His impact on sports supersedes baseball and the New York Yankees. His work on behalf of the U.S. Olympic Committee and in particular U.S. Olympic athletes continues to affect the way the USOC conducts business today. The Steinbrenner report in 1989 revolutionized the USOC's sport performance philosophy, and a generation of Olympians have benefited as a result. His influence on the U.S. Olympic Movement, his devotion to sport and the pursuit of excellence will forever be remembered."

If you didn't think he was an American icon before you read that quote, then it is easy to understand after reading it how much he loved this country and how he would do whatever was possible to bring greatness to the U.S.

Looking back on the first quote Mr. Steinbrenner is known for as owner of the Yankees, in which said that he would not be involved much, makes you think what it would have been like if he had held true to that statement. I was born in 1989 and because of that, all I have ever known is Yankees success at the highest level. So the original statement made by Mr. Steinbrenner, about not being involved, does not resonate with me and I am thankful that he didn't keep his word. For if he did remain truthful on that fateful day, the world would have missed out on getting to know a great man.

By winning 16 division titles, 11 American League pennants, and 7 World Series Championships, Steinbrenner gained the respect of millions around the world. Everyone from Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to John Henry (Red Sox Owner), Bud Selig, and countless others sent in tributes to The Boss. Many of them spoke to how much of a giant Steinbrenner was in the sports world and a fixture in the history of America. Mr. Steinbrenner epitomized the American spirit in every way and I am proud to be a Yankees fan because of him.

Mr. Steinbrenner once said of New York City and Yankee fans, "This is the greatest city in the world, and its people are the greatest people in the world. And I just hope they like me." The Boss said those words in October of '77. Well, Mr. Steinbrenner, there are many people crying over your loss today. I think it is pretty evident through those tears that we didn't just like you, we loved you, and you will be forever missed.

REST IN PEACE MR. STEINBRENNER

You earned it!

Some People Are Just Classless

(There are two political pundits mentioned in article, not for their politics, but just for the way they handled this situation. So when you read this, read it as a Yankees fan, and not a liberal or conservative. You will understand why I'm saying this more as you continue to read.)

...

When a person passes away the normal thing to do is ignore that person's flaws and focus on the good that they did while on this planet. We all make mistakes in this short life, but the good we do is what really matters. We've seen a lot of that in regards to The Boss over the last few days, and rightly so. The man went from ship building in Cleveland to the Owner of the greatest franchise in sports, and in the process turned an $10 million investment ($168K of his money) into a billion and a half dollar empire. Oh yea, and his Yankees won 7 World Series.

However, there are always a couple schmucks who feel the need to be heard, but end up just making themselves sound like moronic assholes. Those two people this week were Rush Limbaugh and some British douche named Muhammad Cohen. (Yes, Muhammad Cohen.)

First, that loudmouth of AM radio:

“That cracker made a lot of African-American millionaires. George Steinbrenner: the classic capitalist. Everybody around him became wealthy. Like most successful capitalists, he made the people around him wealthy. And a lot of African-American millionaires away. And at the same time he fired a bunch of white guys, as managers, left and right."

That cracker? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

Who cares if he fired white managers or made millionaires out of black athletes? Why would any of that matter to anyone with a functioning brain? Steinbrenner also did more for the managers he fired than any owner has done before or after him. Handing them jobs within the organization that they probably didn't deserve just so they could continue getting a paycheck. What else is there really to say about a statement this utterly ridiculous?

On to the classless idiot from across the pond, who says Steinbrenner was "a cruel and petty bully, who does not deserve the eulogies following his death this week."

George Steinbrenner was a loser. While insisting that nothing less than wining was acceptable, Steinbrenner owned the New York Yankees during the team's longest World Series drought since its first appearance in 1921, a dry spell directly attributable to Steinbrenner's insistent mismanagement.

Steinbrenner, who died on Tuesday at age 80, was a bully and a brat, devoid of humility, class, and civility, born on third base, deluded that he'd hit a triple, and convinced he had to tell the whole world how he'd done it. Famed for his bombast and for making himself bigger than his players and team, tolerated only because he had money and power, this Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July paved the way for America to become a loser by his example.

Just about every bit of praise eulogising Steinbrenner is 180 degrees wrong.

There's more in the article, but we've seen enough of this garbage.

While Steinbrenner did have a rough go of it in the 80's, he did more to make this organization the empire it is than anyone else. Maybe this guy should go do a little research on what CBS did to this team in the 60's prior to "The Boss" taking over.

You wait until the man passes away to write up an attack like this? Wow, what a man of integrity you are, Muhammad. A man dies and four days later you feel the need to attack him because of some personal grudge.

Also, this guys seems a bit anti-American, wouldn't you say?

Just because I know Limbaugh hates liberals, I'm going to steal something from Keith Olbermann (a Yankees fan who Steinbrenner apparently was very fond of): Rush Limbaugh & Muhammad Cohen, you are today's Worst Person(s) In The World!

(hat-tip to Ed Valentine)

Friday Night's Ceremonies

The Yankees announced their plans for Friday night's game, the first game back in the Bronx since the passing of two Yankees icons. Here's the details via Mark Feinsand:

Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 6:45 p.m. for the pregame ceremony which will include a video tribute to “The Boss” and a special moment of silence honoring both Yankees icons. Further tributes to Steinbrenner and Sheppard will be revealed during Friday’s ceremony, and additional ceremonies will be held during Saturday's Old-Timers’ Day.

United States Army Sergeant First Class Mary Kay Messenger will sing the national anthem on Friday, and the West Point Color Guard will present the colors.

In addition, a wreath will be placed in front of Steinbrenner’s statue in the Yankee Stadium Gate 2 Executive Lobby as well as in front of Sheppard’s plaque in Monument Park.

Classy as always. It will be a special, but sad weekend in the Bronx..... The Boss would want a sweep.

Remembering The Voice and The Boss

I picked up the NY Post this morning before I got on the train for work, and almost the entire thing was deticated to George M. Steinbrenner III, as it should be.

One thing that I was very pleased with was the short little caption next to this picture. The Yanks will wear the GMS patch above the left breast, and the Bob Sheppard patch on the left sleeve.

Classy move Yanks.

Goodbye Mr. Steinbrenner...And Thank You.

On a horse farm nestled in a quiet section of Ocala, Florida sits a house that I have worked in many times as a telephone repairman. Inside this house, there is a refrigerator upon which a photograph is displayed. In the photograph is a man that is smiling and surrounded by his grandchildren. Every time I would look at picture it would make me smile as well. That picture was of George M. Steinbrenner III. Not "The Boss", not the head of the so called "Evil Empire", but a man like any other man, enjoying the company of the family he knew and loved.
In that moment, when that picture was taken, I have to imagine that all the other things happening in life didn't matter to him. One moment frozen in time, a time to be geniunely happy.

I have talked to many people on the farm over the years, and one thing rings true in all their comments. He could be a hard boss to work for, but if you worked, you were rewarded. He expected nothing less than what he himself would give. He could be cold and mean, but he could be warm and gentle as well. He gave to you what you gave to him.

For over 30 years, he helped build the Yankees into the Dynasty you see today. Did he do it by being a saint? Of course not, but rarely does anything get done in business that way. George did it his way. As the great song by Frank Sinatra goes:

"For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has not.
To say the words, he truly feels,
and not the words, of one who kneels,
the record shows, I took the blows...
and did it...my way."

Everything that we, the loyal fans of the Yankees have experienced with the team over the past 3 decades is due in large part to him. I can't imagine what the Yankees, or even baseball for that matter would have looked like without Mr. Steinbrenner. For that I thank him, as we all should.
I have read many articles over the past day and while most of them point out the good that he did for the game, and for people in need, some point out the negative. It is when I read articles like those, that I go back to that single picture hanging on that refrigerator here at Kinsman Stud in Ocala, Fl, and I remember that no matter what, good or bad, George M. Steinbrenner III was a man like any other man, and had faults like we all have faults. But throughout his life, he balanced them better than most could have.

So in closing, Thank you George, for being "The Boss" and the Darth Vader of our "Evil Empire". I don't think there is a Yankee fan alive that would have wanted it any other way. Rest in Peace.

George Steinbrenner Special Tonight On YES

It's actually about to start in 15 minutes. Here's more from YESNetwork.com:

With the passing this morning of George M. Steinbrenner III, the YES Network will air a live two-hour special at 6 pm ET this evening entitled George Steinbrenner Remembered. YES' Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay will co-host the show from YES' studios with YES Yankees reporter/analyst Jack Curry. The network's Bob Lorenz will contribute from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, site of tonight's MLB All-Star Game.

YES' George Steinbrenner Remembered is scheduled to include interviews from Angel Stadium with Yankees manager Joe Girardi, the Yankees players currently in Anaheim for tonight's All-Star Game, and other dignitaries. The special will also consist of interviews with and recollections from many former Yankees greats and other luminaries.

...

YES will show encore presentations of George Steinbrenner Remembered from 8 pm ET to roughly 12 am ET, after which it will re-air its George Steinbrenner Yankeeography.

Starting at 6 am ET tomorrow, YES will rotate airings of its George Steinbrenner Yankeeography and its George Steinbrenner Remembered special.

I know I'll be tuning in.

ESPN Takes a Look at The Boss

Here's a few videos from ESPN about the passing of The Boss:

George Steinbrenner Has Passed Away

Steinbrenner was hospitalized earlier this morning after suffering a massive heart attack, and died Tuesday morning of a massive heart attack according to ESPN.com. He was 80 years old.

Longtime New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died Tuesday morning, his family confirmed in a statement.

"It is with profound sadness that the family of George M. Steinbrenner III announces his passing. He passed away this morning in Tampa, Fla., at age 80," the family said in a statement.

First, The Voice of God, and now the owner that brought back the Yankee Dynasty. Under Mr. Steinbrenner the Yankees 11 AL Pennants and seven World Series Championships.
You will be missed George.

Updates and reaction to come. Until then follow me on Twitter to get up to the minute news and updates. Click here

An extremely sad day here for the Yankees and Yankee fans.

"Heroes get remembered but legends never die"

Some Links For You On This 4th Of July Morning

First of all, a happy 4th to all of you! Our great country turns 234 years old today. Also celebrating a birthday today is our great owner, George Steinbrenner, who turns 80. How do you plan on spending your 4th of July?

On to the links:

- With The Boss celebrating his 80th today, there were several articles (like this one) about him around the web. This one, written by Bill Madden, looks at how George Steinbrenner would have handled LeBron James' free agency if he owned the Knicks. It's a good read, and there's some interesting stuff in the piece about how The Boss handled free agents throughout his reign as owner of the Yankees. ........ Where do you think LeBron, Wade, Bosh will land?

- The Yankees will also be honoring Steinbrenner at the stadium on Sunday, displaying all seven World Series trophies won since he bought the team in 1973.

- The All-Star rosters will be announced today at noon. American League manager, Joe Girardi, is also finished with his side of the work selecting the final seven roster spots, along with five additional players who will be a part of the online vote for the final spot.

- Mark Hale thinks Andy Pettitte is a lock. So do I.

- Nick Swisher hopes he's headed to Anaheim.

- Tim Bontemps has this article about how Jesus Montero has rebounded from some early struggles.

Yanks Finally Doing Business The Right Way

With Joba headed to the pen, many people within the organization have been sharing their opinions on the move. And whether you agree with the move or not, the good thing is at least we're hearing those opinions. Pat Borzi has a little more on this:

The pitching coach Dave Eiland spoke far more definitively than Eppler when he told The Newark Star-Ledger that for the rest of this season, “he’s in the bullpen, and he’s there to stay, period.” However, Eiland said Cashman or Manager Joe Girardi could override him.

Cashman called Eiland’s comment “an individual opinion” that Eiland, too, was entitled to offer.

In the old days, George Steinbrenner might have fired Eppler on the spot, or at least muzzled him. Now, in the paintball-and-pool-hall era, Cashman said Eppler will “absolutely” be allowed to do more interviews.

“But this has been a good growth spurt,” Cashman said. “I might disagree with his opinion, but he makes us better. I don’t want him to shy away from his opinion. Even though maybe I disagree with the variance of what he said, I want him to speak. It’s a big part of what he does.”

I miss George, or at least certain aspects of the old George, but I'm glad the Yankees now have an organization where people can speak their mind without the fear that it will lead to their dismissal. It's better for everyone if opinions can be heard and expressed freely. I'm glad that Cashman admitted that he might disagree with Eppler, but I'm even happier that he defended his right to say what he feels. With this kind of atmosphere better decisions will be made and the team will be better off.

The Boss To Attend Opening Day

From the AP:

Yankees co-chairman Hal Steinbrenner has told The Associated Press that "the plan" is for owner George Steinbrenner to attend opening day in New York on April 13.

His last trip to the stadium was for game 2 of the World Series, opening day should be his next. Number 27 was for him and he deserves to be there.

The Boss Looking Forward To 2010

From the AP via The Record:

George Steinbrenner is looking forward to the start of the upcoming baseball season.

“I am. Aren’t you?” the 79-year-old New York Yankees owner said with a smile on Friday.

Steinbrenner spent four hours in his office at the team’s complex in Florida, where individual spring training game tickets went on sale. About 150 fans were in line when ticket windows opened.

...

Steinbrenner said the Yankees are in position for what could be another “special” season this year, and that he is “feeling good.”

The article also said that the World Series trophy made its way to the Boss's house and now resides outside Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

I'm glad to hear George is enjoying this most recent ring. He certainly deserves it.