10/14/2007 12:08:48 PM
New York, NY (Sports Network) - New York Yankees legendary owner George Steinbrenner is reportedly stepping down and will hand control of the team off to his sons, according to a report in the New York Post.
Members of the Yankees brass told the newspaper that Hank and Hal Steinbrenner will share leadership in an arrangement to be further ironed out in Tampa, Florida later this week.
"George has taken on a role like the chairman of a major corporation," Yankees president Randy Levine told the Post. "He's been saying for years he's wanted to get his sons involved in the family business. Both of them have stepped up and are taking on the day-to-day duties of what's required to run the Yankees."
Both brothers are expected to have final say on baseball decisions, the running of the YES Network and the construction of the new Yankee Stadium.
"There's always been a succession - and that's myself and my brother," Hank told the newspaper. "I'll pay more attention to the baseball part. The stadium, that's more Hal. But basically everything will be decided jointly."
The brothers have already been heavily involved is George Steinbrenner's business dealings. Hank, 50, runs the family's 850-acre Kinsman Stable, a horse farm for thoroughbreds in Ocala, Florida. Hal, 38, oversees five hotels in Florida and one in Ohio and is in charge of various real-estate, transportation and marketing companies. He was also recently named chairman of the board of Yankee Global Enterprises.
Hank has already made one key baseball decision and will move rookie sensation
Joba Chamberlain from the bullpen to the starting rotation in 2008. Chamberlain excelled in the Yankees' minor league system as a starter before being called up by the big club as a setup man for
Mariano Rivera.
Larger decisions loom on the horizon for the new Yankees caretakers, most notably the future of manager Joe Torre.
It was thought that Torre managed his last game in a New York Yankees uniform when they were beaten by the Cleveland Indians, 6-4, in Game 4 of their American League Division Series.
It was the third straight year that the Yankees were unceremoniously dumped from the playoffs in the first round and the elder Steinbrenner had already put Torre on notice.
"His job is on the line," George Steinbrenner told the Bergen Record before Game 3 of the series. "I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."
Torre was in the final year of a contract worth over $7 million per year and has led the Yankees to four World Series titles and 12 consecutive playoff appearances.
Torre's 12 appearances in postseason play with the Yankees (1996-2007) are the most by any manager in American League history and he's won more postseason games than any skipper in major league history.
The 67-year-old mentor is 1,173-767 during the regular season in his tenure with the Yankees, winning the World Series four years in a five-season span (1996, 1998-2000).
http://tsn.ca/mlb/news_story/?ID=220602&hubname=
it was on the news at 10 up here
what is baseball??
