Hal Steinbrenner stayed true to his nature, and contrary to his father’s, yesterday when asked about the news that Alex Rodriguez had been treated by Dr. Anthony Galea, the Canadian doctor who has admitted administering human growth hormone.
“There’s nothing more to say than we said last week,” Steinbrenner said. “We didn’t know Alex was seeing this doctor, and we’ve been told he’s going to cooperate with the authorities and answer some questions for them. And until that’s done, there’s nothing to add.”
Galea said on Monday that he had been visited by Rodriguez while the third baseman recovered from last year’s hip surgery, but that he only prescribed anti-inflammatories.
Steinbrenner was at Yankee Stadium yesterday, where the team provided further details about the New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which will be played in The Bronx on Dec. 30. He added that he isn’t about to change the team’s policy of not granting contract extensions, even for Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera or Joe Girardi after last year’s World Series win.
“People just have to understand that everybody does business in a different way, and I just don’t believe in contract extensions, and that’s throughout the organization, no matter who it is,” Steinbrenner said. “Hopefully nobody takes that personally, because that’s just business.
“I’m not big of exceptions, and anyone that works here, you can ask,” Steinbrenner said. “I just don’t make them because I think it opens too many doors and it’s unfair.”
When asked if he thought that cost the team more money in the long run, Steinbrenner said: “I haven’t put much thought into [the cost].”
As for the bowl game, Steinbrenner talked about his father, George’s, love of football and the history the sport had at the old Stadium.
“There was lots of football tradition across the street,” said Steinbrenner.
The Pinstripe Bowl won’t make anyone forget about the Army-Notre Dame games of old, since it will feature the third-place team from the Big East and the sixth-place team from the Big 12. Last year, that would have pitted Rutgers against Texas A&M.
dan.martin@nypost.com