“If George was alive…”
Those four words begin many a sentence by older Yankees fans, and some media members, yearning for the days George Steinbrenner acted loudly and decisively when his teams failed to meet expectations. It’s a call for swift, bold action – fire this guy, trade that guy, call this guy Mr. May or that guy a fat toad. Do it all with bluster and enthusiasm, but please do ANYTHING to show Yankees fans that you care.
But why isn’t Hal Steinbrenner, George’s youngest son and the Yankees’ Managing General Partner since 2008, more like his father? In part, because he IS George’s son.
Hal lived through the George era and was probably more closely affected by it than any of us could possibly realize. He doesn’t generally reveal too much, but a few statements from his 2021 Zoom address to reporters peeled back a few layers and provided a glimpse into how Hal views his constant comparisons to George.
On the one hand, he doesn’t actually mind them.
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“Look, I'm my own person,” Hal said in July 2021. “We all have pluses and minuses, strengths and weaknesses. And there's a lot of things that are different between my dad and I. There are also things that are similar.
“But I've just come to understand…it’s a very justified question to ever ask and to always ask, because he was he was one of the greatest at what he did. And all I can do is do my best to be my own person, make the decisions in the way that I have always made decisions, which is putting in as much thought into a decision as possible. Taking the time if I have the time to do just that.
“There's no doubt I'm going to live less spur of the moment than he was in a lot of ways, but I can assure everybody I do my best. And it's a legitimate question to always ask and never bothers me. I love the man. And, you know, he was he was the greatest and it's just understandable. But how do I cope with it? I'm just used to it. It’s part of the job. And it really doesn't bother me.”
On the other hand, when asked later to elaborate on why he doesn’t follow the bombastic leadership style of his headline-grabbing father by firing managers or coaches after losing streaks or making bold declarative statements, Hal – who was a teenager in the 1980’s when his father was at his tabloid era back page peak – opened the window a little bit more.
“He certainly (fired people) a lot,” Hal admitted. “I think what people forget is that oftentimes didn't help, didn't work. And oftentimes, quite frankly, he was criticized for it, right?”
This is what Hal remembers from his childhood about how his father was treated for employing the style of leadership that today’s fans say they miss. It didn’t work and it didn’t make him popular. Do we think he’s forgotten how Yankees fans actually cheered the 1990 announcement that his father had been suspended from baseball? You don’t need to be Freud to understand that dynamic.
Whatever happens with Brian Cashman, Aaron Judge, and the rest will be what Hal does. So maybe it’s time we just stop asking what George would have done.
Follow Sweeny Murti on Twitter: @YankeesWFAN
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