From The Boss:

George Steinbrenner is predicting the New York Yankees’ five-year World Series drought will end this October.

“We’re going to win it this year,” the Yankees owner said Wednesday. “We’re going after it.”

Well, what else is he supposed to say?

From the Post -

Hey, Ozzie! Zip it.

That was the message George Steinbrenner (left) sent World Champion White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen yesterday.

Earlier this week, Guillen said in Sports Illustrated that Alex Rodriguez was a hypocrite when ARod said he had a tough time deciding to play for the United States or the Dominican Republic in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Yesterday, Guillen apologized to A-Rod in print. But that didn’t stop The Boss from getting on Guillen.

“Shut it up,” Steinbrenner said as he made a motion to zip his mouth. “I like Ozzie Guillen as a manager but I don’t like him when he pops off like that. That’s [horse spit].”

Big Stein as Dr. Evil?

Zip it, ex zip it a, zippy longstockings, zip it, zip it good, zuckle on my zipple, zip it…

From Newsday -

“I’m going to be very active in spring training,” the Yankees’ principal owner said through his industrious spokesman, Howard Rubenstein. “I go to work every single day. I’ll be in the locker room. I’ll be on the field. I’ll be very active.”

Every breath you take
And every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take
Stein’ll be watching you

Oh, can’t you see
You belong to me?
How my poor heart aches
With every step you take
Every move you make
Every vow you break
Every smile you fake, every claim you stake
Stein’ll be watching you

From the St. Pete Times -

For the 17th consecutive year, the Steinbrenner family has staged its annual Christmas Holiday Concerts. More than 2,000 students from Pinellas County public schools heard the orchestra play holiday songs Wednesday. Last week, an equal number of Hillsborough students came to a show at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Equally important to Steinbrenner is the reaction of the students. He got a standing ovation on Wednesday and reveled over how the kids were active participants, singing carols and clapping along with the percussion section.

At the end of the concert, the kids received an Adidas Yankees bag with 10 gifts, including a T-shirt and cap.

Philanthropy is a Steinbrenner trademark, and many of his acts of goodwill go unpublicized. The Boss said his motivation is rooted in benevolence.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be successful, and I want to pass it on,” Steinbrenner said. “I don’t want to die with all this money. I want to give to the people.

“I don’t want to be the richest man in the cemetery.”

Wow. Christmas spirit sans Anna Benson’s blouse puppies. It can happen!

More importantly, it’s G.S.’s line of “I don’t want to die with all this money” that hits me. I believe it. I just hope that when his son-in-law is in charge that we continue to see that spirit.

From a Reuters article entitled “Business leaders offer golden rules of the road” -

“Surround yourself with people smarter than you,” says George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees. “The Boss” is not known for letting his “smarter” hires run day-to-day baseball operations without his occasional interference. Still, he says, “I will not make an important decision without them.”

I never knew there was a Bizzaro Stein.

From the Sports Network:

“I am very happy that Brian will continue as General Manager,” said Steinbrenner. “Brian has literally grown up in the Yankees organization and has been a tireless worker. He is very knowledgeable about the game and the business of Baseball and is extremely loyal. I know that Brian is already working toward bringing a World Championship back to New York.”

This may be something to look back at next October.

Stein helps out, again:

The New York Yankees and the NFL are each donating $1 million to the American Red Cross to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said the franchise was “heeding the President’s call to help the people devastated by this hurricane in the affected areas.

“This is one of America’s greatest natural disasters and tragedies and it is the responsibility of the American public to step up and help those in need.”

Of course, this is not the first time that Big Stein has reached into his pocket to help.

Steinbrenner can be overwhelmingly generous.

After the father of Ron Karnaugh died during the opening ceremonies of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Steinbrenner — a U.S. Olympic Committee vice president for part of that decade — paid the swimmer’s medical school expenses.

In 1975, when Tony Fossas couldn’t afford to go to college, Steinbrenner arranged to pay for a four-year scholarship at the University of South Florida.

In 2000, George Steinbrenner donated $1 million on behalf of the Yankess to the Twin Towers Foundation.

In 1998, Steinbrenner donated two $100,000 checks to Hurricane George Relief Efforts.

In 1981, Steinbrenner started the Silver Shield Foundation – to provide a college education to families of slain firefighters and police officers.

In 2000, Steinbrenner gave $1.5 million towards the new band room in OSU.

There are so many more stories like this of Stein giving. People rarely talk about this kind of stuff when discussing George………….that’s a shame.

From a ‘net report:

A fan plunged from the upper deck at Yankee Stadium onto the screen behind home plate during Tuesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

The game was delayed for four minutes in the eighth inning after 18-year-old Scott Harper plummeted about 40 feet onto the large net. The man eventually was taken to a hospital after his head was immobilized in a neck brace.

Police say Harper told three friends he was sitting with that he was going to test whether the net would hold his weight. He sat with his head in his hands for a few moments before climbing on the net back up to the middle level of seats as players watched and the crowd roared.

Following the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the White Sox, Yanks owner George Steinbrenner said Harper’s fall was the only exciting thing that happened in the game.

Big Stein likes calzones and Johnny Knoxville wannabes!

From The Record:

Jaret Wright gave up two hits and fanned eight over six shutout innings in a rehabilitation start for Class A Tampa against Vero Beach. His fastball hit 94 mph.

“He looked great,” Yankees owner George Steinbrenner told The Associated Press at Legends Field.

As for the big club, Steinbrenner said: “I’m concerned that they’ve got to get their bats going. They’ve got to get it together and get playing.”

Somebody should let Big Stein know that he was pitching against a bunch of high school kids.

From Big Stein, in an upcoming ESPN The Mag interview:

“Brevity is the brother of brilliance.”

Funny, I always like to say that repetition is the mother of skill – and that we’re not sure who the father is, because, like the name indicates, repetition did it a lot.

Back to Stein, maybe this is why he thought Jaret Wright was a good signing?

From the News:

“The biggest question is if Mr. George would let us play,” Rivera said before Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at Comerica Park. “I won’t move one step if George says not to do it.”

When asked for his opinion, however, George Steinbrenner demurred. Through a spokesman, he said he had an “open mind” on whether Yankees should participate in the Classic, which is scheduled to be played over an 18-day stretch during spring training next year.

Privately, however, the Yankees – and Steinbrenner – are not particularly enamored with the idea of their biggest assets risking their health while playing for their home countries. The prospect of A-Rod or Derek Jeter or Rivera suffering a season-ending injury during such a competition is frightening; its impact would go far beyond the field, since the Bombers’ superstars are critical to advertising and ticket sales, too.

If I were Big Stein, I would probably tell “baseball” no – as a form of payback for having the Yankees, er, Luxury Tax.

From an AP story:

Q: What are the differences between the public image of George Steinbrenner and the reality?

A: I’m really 95 percent Mr. Rogers, and only 5 percent Oscar the Grouch.

Big Stein likes PBS!

It’s official. Steve Swindal is on deck:

With his 75th birthday approaching next week, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner made it official Tuesday: Son-in-law Steve Swindal will follow him as head of baseball’s most storied team.

Steinbrenner did not say when Swindal would take over. At a news conference on June 15, Steinbrenner mentioned in passing that Swindal was “going to carry on.”

“Yes, Steve will be my successor,” Steinbrenner said through spokesman Howard Rubenstein in an e-mail response to questions from The Associated Press. “I also have other sons, daughters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law coming along and they will remain involved. As I have said many times, ‘You must let the young elephants into the tent.’”

Swindal, 50, is married to Steinbrenner’s daughter, Jennifer. He said there was no way he would be as hands-on as his father-in-law.

“I think that’s impossible. My inherent style is more delegation,” Swindal said Tuesday during a telephone interview from Tampa, Fla. “I don’t think there could ever be another George Steinbrenner. He is Mr. Yankee and has represented them for 32 years. I could only could only hope to surround myself with the best, brightest baseball minds and do a lot of listening.”

Swindal said Steinbrenner had told him he would be the successor.

“We’ve discussed that all the kids would be involved at some point in running the team and everybody would contribute,” Swindal said. “It just happens at this point in time my kids are further along, and I can spend more time in New York. The other boys have younger children, and they have to stay closer to home.”

Closer to home? I thought this team was run out of Tampa as it is?

From an AP report:

“My patience is a little short by the fact that the team is not performing up to its great capabilities,” Steinbrenner said in a statement issued by spokesman Howard Rubenstein. “The players have to want to win as much as I do.”

This is interesting. Who gets the players to “want to win”? It’s the manager, right?

I know that I’ve been calling for a change for the past 7 weeks.

But, would you do something now, after two wins in a row? OK, OK, I know that I said last night that the team should not let these games fool them. And, I’m still standing by that.

It’s just that such a move now would play right into the hands of the media. Your current MGR is “winning” (albeit just at the moment) and then you replace him. And, when the new MGR loses his first two games – and, why wouldn’t he, it’s going to take more than 48 hours to right this ship – what’s the press going to do to him?

That’s putting the new guy into a bad spot – well, a worse spot that it already is, in my opinion.

Unless Big Stein is thinking about going after coaches and leaving Torre alone, for now? Then, it makes no difference what the team is doing. We’ll know soon.

Reading this now, it confirmed what I thought watching the tape of the new Stadium press conference today. See this:

Making a rare public speaking appearance in a formal setting, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner appeared to anoint son-in-law Steve Swindal as his successor.

Steinbrenner, who turns 75 next month, has avoided news conferences in recent years, choosing instead to have a spokesman issue statements. But he did answer questions at Wednesday’s announcement plans for a new Yankee Stadium, and he dropped in a reference to his succession plans while discussing why the team chose to remain in the Bronx.

“I think it’s very important to the whole family and Steve, who’s going to carry on,” Steinbrenner said. “I think it’s important to him to do something great for New York.”

Swindal, a Yankees general partner, is married to Steinbrenner’s daughter Jessica. Swindal and other Yankees executives were surprised by Steinbrenner’s statement.

When I saw Swindal at the mike today, the first thing I thought was “He looks just like Stein did in 1973″ and then I thought “I guess some girls do want to marry a guy just like their dad?”

Yankees fans should probably start keeping Steve Swindal on the radar a bit more now.

Sometimes, when it comes to working with the VCR, I’m about just as good as A-Rod is with balls hit between him and the line (this year). And, I pulled a rock yesterday when it came to judging how much time I had left on the tape, and recording the Big Stein edition of CenterStage on YES. I did manage to get the first 30 minutes or so – but, that’s it.

It looks like it’s going to be on again at 11 pm EST on 5/27. I’ll have to try and catch the full thing that night.

But, based on what I saw yesterday, I did not come away feeling very good. I did not see The Boss. Instead, I saw a man who looked very much the role of being extremely elderly.

It seemed like G.S. needed to be led with some of the questions so that he could answer them “yes” or “no” or “sure” and the like. And, I noticed traces of tremoring in both his voice and mannerisms (at times).

George really was working his eye-glasses during what I saw – playing with them excessively in his hands while fielding questions and speaking.

And, it seemed that, on a few occasions, Steinbrenner was working hard at choking back an emotional reaction – when there was no need to be emotional at the moment. I hate to say this, but, it was a semi-borderline-kinda-like-visting-someone-in-a-nursing-home-type-thing. I know just the other day there was an entry here about Life After The Big Stein. Gosh, I was thinking maybe 10 years from now.

After just 30 minutes of that interview on YES, now I’m wondering if we have very much time left at all? This is very sad. I wish someone would get to him soon and start working on an autobiography before it’s too late.

Newsday just published a piece on Big Stein’s upcoming appearance on Michael Kay’s CenterStage (that will air on YES on 5/22). This line in it from The Boss hit home:

“There are people that get up in the morning and have their good day or bad day depending on how the Yankees did the night before.”

True.

Actually, sometimes I also have a good or bad “rest of the evening” too – depending on the game that day. And, then that carries over to the next morning.

The Big Stein speaks! From a USA Today report:

“I am concerned because time is getting shorter as each day goes by,” he told USA TODAY on Thursday. “We’ve got to get better, that’s for sure. It’s never too early. Pitching is my main concern.”

……….

“We’re just not getting the pitching,” he said. “I don’t know whether we have to think of some changes there or what.”

……….

“Joe Torre doesn’t attach much importance to spring training, but now this is in his lap, his lap and (general manager) Brian Cashman’s lap. They’ve got to perform, and the coaches have to perform.”

………..

“I think we have a great team, and they’ll start pulling together once the pitching goes, then they’ll all go. As Joe Torre says, pitching wins it. Pitching is important. We’ve got to have it.”

The two most important lines in there:

1. “We’re just not getting the pitching,” he said. “I don’t know whether we have to think of some changes there or what.”

2. “the coaches have to perform.”

Bye-bye Mel.

This is at least two years overdue. The question is: Who will replace him? Reportedly, Neil Allen is a Stein guy. And, Gil Patterson is in Columbus. But, the Yankees need someone like Ray Miller – and what he did for the O’s last and this year, turning around the staff. Like what Orel has done in Texas too. Tom House? Dave Stewart? I dunno? I’m just pulling names out of the air. Johnny Sain is 87. Count him out. Is Joe Kerrigan working somewhere?

Who would you like to see replace Mel? Kaat? Gooden? Gator? Tommy John?

If it were possible, I would love to see them pull Jimmy Key into this. I think he would be perfect.