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Hank Steinbrenner: At least the Yankees are better than the Red Sox in the marketing department

From Redsox Fan and Yankees Hater Jeff Loudebeck

[QUOTE]http://www.soxandpinstripes.com/sox_and_pinstripes/2007/10/some-sayings-ar.html#comments

Some sayings are just too appropriate to question, such as "the apple does not fall from the tree." I give you the maniacal tyrant George Steinbrenner, and his bumbling sons, Hank and Hal (also known as Harry and Lloyd; you will understand this comparison if you are a fan of the movie, Dumb and Dumber).

The elder Steinbrenner played a significant role in transforming Major League Baseball from a game into a business by signing free agents to excessive contracts, driving up the prices for other owners and leading to the inflated payrolls of today. Over the course of his ownership, Steinbrenner also kept a revolving door of managers, until finally settling down with Joe Torre, one of the few individuals who has worn pinstripes in recent years worthy of respect.

Now that the patriarch has ceded control of the Yankees to his sons, Harry and Lloyd (or Hank and Hal), the franchise is encountering more disarray than it has seen since the 1980s. If the early decisions and comments from Hank (who is more reminiscent of Harry than Lloyd) are an indication of this team's future, it will be a tumultuous, albeit amusing, period in Yankees history.

First, there was the Torre debacle, offering a less than flattering contract that was understandably rejected by Torre. If the Yankees were not interested in retaining Torre - and from the way the contract was composed, it was evident they definitely were not - they should have just told him they were parting ways instead of trying to initiate an ill-fated public relations move. Then, when he didn't like Torre's response to the contract offer, Hank Steinbrenner essentially said, "If it wasn't for my daddy, where would he (Torre) be?"

Hank Steinbrenner's latest gaffe happened just before Game One of the World Series when he was interviewed by esteemed New York Times writer Murray Chass. Among Steinbrenner's comments were:

“The Red Sox have become a popular team. If it wasn’t for the rivalry with us, they’d be just another team.

“They talk about Red Sox nation. We talk about Yankee universe. As bad as they want it, they’ll never be the Yankees with their brand.

“What would they be if they were in another division. They’d still be good, but there are other good teams in baseball. The bottom line is the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is the best thing baseball has going for it.”

It's an interesting time in Major League Baseball. The roles are reversed in the game's greatest rivalry. The Red Sox are primed to win their second World Series in four years, and are the model of stability with their ownership, their general manager and their field manager. Naysayers point to Boston's position as having the game's second highest payroll, but fail to recognize that the farm system is loaded and a growing number of key players are homegrown. The Yankees are enduring an ownership transition (even though it is within the family, it is still a major transition), a general manager who is given more credit than deserved (he should be tarred and feathered by Yankees universe for the rotation and bullpen he stuck Torre with), a managerial vacancy and the potential departure of key free agents like Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and possible free agent Alex Rodriguez. They have an array of promising young players as well, and they are also saddled with bad contracts of fragile veterans like Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi.

Hank Steinbrenner is right about two comments. The Sox-Yankees rivalry is great for baseball. And even though the Red Sox popularity is at an all-time high, the Yankees brand is still more recognizable around the world. That has little to do with the team itself, and more to do with New York City, which is highly visible worldwide on television and the big screen, where billions of people around the globe see characters wearing Yankees apparel, and naturally buy their own. Many of these people could not name a player on the Yankees roster or tell you how many World Series titles the team has won.

Hank's comment about the Yankees brand is interesting for another reason. The Yankees lack of post-season success in this decade is so prominent that his only defense is the Yankees are better in the marketing department. This stance is wise. All three Steinbrenners can point to the team's status as the most successful franchise in the history of professional sports. Yet, just as the 16 banners that hang from the Celtics arena, those 26 flags are entertaining reading in the history books, but they do little to help the team now. After all, the Yankees are now the American League version of the Atlanta Braves. Despite having the financial resources of playing in the nation's biggest city and enjoying the advantages of baseball's most expansive payroll, the Yankees have not played in a World Series since 2003 and have not won the Fall Classic since 2000.

Most franchises would be overjoyed with 13 straight post-season appearances and four World Series titles since 1996. The Yankees are not satisfied, nor should they be. When you have the game's highest payroll by a landslide year after year, that should allow you to assemble a World Series-caliber team - a true team, not a collection of players like the Yankees currently have.

Since John Henry bought the Red Sox in 2002, expectations have grown in Boston. The team has an ownership group that is willing to pay the money to sign key free agents and select and sign draft picks that few teams can afford. In today's landscape - when baseball teams are making more money than ever, and the playing field is more level because of revenue sharing - it is unrealistic to expect the Yankees, the Red Sox or any big market team to win the World Series every year. Yet it is realistic to expect a legitimate World Series contender in most seasons, and a team that makes noise in the post-season.

If the Red Sox win the World Series over Colorado, the last five seasons will include an ALCS Game 7 loss in 2003, a World Series title in 2004, a three-game exit in the 2005 ALDS, a third place American League East finish in 2006, and an American League East title and World Series crown in 2007. Would you rather have that as a fan, or the Yankees five-year record of a World Series loss to Florida in 2003, and ALCS Game 7 defeat against Boston in 2004 and three consecutive first round exits?

When told of Hank Steinbrenner's comments about Yankees universe, Henry had a laugh and said,
"As far as I'm concerned, they can have Mars and Pluto. We're going to settle for Red Sox Nation."

Yes, this is a grand time for Red Sox Nation. The Red Sox are poised for success, this season and for the long term. The Yankees will certainly not become the Orioles, but their short-term future is on shaky ground, especially if they lose Rivera and/or Posada, and start three young arms in the rotation next season. If the Sox win two more games and capture their second World Series title in four years, they will surpass the Yankees as the most formidable franchise in Major League Baseball. Who knows, maybe the Yankees will regroup and win another World Series in the near future. If so, this photo will accurately depict Hank and Hal Steinbrenner's celebration:
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