The Post’s Steve Serby chatted with the new Yankees boss about his expectations for 2008 and beyond, his life as George Steinbrenner’s oldest son, and his memories of a lifetime in and around the world’s most famous ballclub.
Q: Your plea for patience was more with your new manager Joe Girardi and your young starting pitchers than lowering expectations?
A: It doesn’t mean we can’t win. The Marlins did it in ’03 with a bunch of young pitchers and they beat us. Detroit got in the World Series last year with a bunch of young pitchers. It doesn’t mean we can’t win right away. I had my plan and the plan has worked. They obviously misunderstood me because we got everybody (Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera) back. But you gotta give them a chance to get their feet wet. And the new manager, too – don’t jump on him right away. (But) I don’t think there’s any question he’s gonna be a winner.
Q: What would you say to Yankees fans?
A: If things keep developing, we got a very good chance to win a championship this year. I can tell you this: that young pitching’s all only gonna get better and better. We think we can win it this year. We think we got a great chance.
Q: That’s a good way to make headlines.
A: I’m not guaranteeing a win. You can say we all feel – not just me – we feel pretty confident for this year. We have a good level of confidence.
Q: You once said: “If I fired somebody, it would be for a very good reason, and they’d stay fired. Dad fires somebody, then hires them back and sends their kids to college.”
A: I don’t want to compare myself with my dad. The fact is, I’m a much easier Boss; I’m very slow to fire somebody. It would have to be for a very good reason – if they cross me or the company. Once I fire them, they stay fired.
Q: How do you think you’re like your father?
A: Someone once said in one of the articles I tend to shoot from the hip like my dad. I’ll analyze things as well, just like he did at times. You don’t get to be as successful as he’s been without analyzing things. He was always thinking.
Q: What was it like working for your father?
A: He was a difficult Boss. As a dad, he’s a great dad, but a very, very difficult Boss. A pain in the (butt).
Q: Best piece of advice from your father?
A: Nothing is as important if you have children than being a good father. And being charitable. The third thing is winning. There’s no reason to get into business, especially if you’re in sports, if you don’t intend to win. It’s more of a coach’s mentality than the usual owner’s mentality. There are owners out there in all sorts of different sports that are not that committed to winning.
Q: Will you be as committed to winning as your father?
A: Absolutely. I think we’ve proven that already this year.
Q: The most memorable disciplinary punishment you received from your father?
A: He wasn’t the disciplinarian any more than I am with my kids. It wasn’t his thing, even though he’d be strict in certain areas … he’d push me in a lot of areas.
Q: How so?
A: Especially with homework and stuff like that. I tended to be more of a self-educated type. When I was 12 years old, I read Churchill’s memoirs and other history books like that. School tended to bore me so he had to push me to get my homework done.
Q: What’s it been like being George Steinbrenner’s oldest son?
A: When I was a kid, we didn’t have a lot of money. There were a couple of times he was even bankrupt, which is well-documented. When I was a kid, it was a basic middle-class upbringing in Bay Village, Ohio, before he started making big money. I also worked at the farm, having been in horseracing since I was 13 – mucking stalls, baling hay, that stuff.
Q: What kind of reactions do you get when people see the name Steinbrenner on your credit card?
A: They just say, “Are you so-and-so? Are you related to George? How are the Yankees gonna do this year?” that kind of thing.
Q: You once said, “If you’re the Boss, you have to be a benevolent dictator. Otherwise, they’ll take advantage of you every time.”
A: I was speaking historically. There were probably two benevolent dictators: Lincoln and Roosevelt … caring leaders. Most people, when they become dictators, aren’t benevolent anymore … Yeah, you gotta be The Boss, no question about it … you gotta be The Boss, but you should be good to your people.
Q: Will this be a fun role for you?
A: It’s the family business, is what it is. Winning is always fun; we want to win. It’s a necessity. If you want to be a leader, you gotta step up. You can’t hide in a room somewhere just because there’s a controversy over the Joe Torre thing or this, that and the other thing. I’m a horse trader, I’m a horse bettor, I’m a horse breeder. You learn a little something when you’re in that business. If you can do horseracing, you can do baseball.
My dad was kinda looking to be a celebrity, and he enjoyed it. I’m not looking for that and neither is my brother (Hal).
Q: Billy Martin?
A: Genius. One of the two greatest managers in the history of the game from all the old-timers I’ve talked to – Billy and Leo Durocher.
Q: You voted to retain Lou Piniella in ’86.
A: I was never necessarily for the firing of Billy, but once we had Lou in there, absolutely.
Q: Did you ever try to talk your father out of firing Billy?
A: I did one time, yeah. I just didn’t think he should be fired because some guy in a bar was giving him trouble and he jacked him. At the same time, there is a Yankee image. It would have been nice if he had calmed down a little at some point, and he did toward the end. He could be fun to be around … it’s not like he was a mean drinker and was looking for trouble. It would have to be somebody else who started it. He wouldn’t walk away – maybe sometimes he should have.
Q: You were devastated when Billy perished in that icy road accident.
A: Yes. It’s not like we hung out together all the time. A couple of times he literally begged me to come back (to the Yankees) and get involved. I ran into him at the Bay Harbor Inn in Tampa, and he was just devastated that we were losing. They always talk about (Tommy) Lasorda bleeding Dodger Blue. Martin might as well have branded an NY on his forehead. He told me, “I don’t have to manage. I’ll wear a suit and come to the office every day. But we gotta do something about this team!”
Q: You had worked with Clyde King and Woody Woodward in ’86. Why weren’t you interested in coming back to the Yankees?
A: I was doing my own thing with the horses.
Q: Why will New York like Joe Girardi?
A: Baseball-wise, he reminds me a lot of Billy as far as baseball intelligence – tactics, strategy and so forth. Good leader. Obviously Joe Torre was as well, and so is Joe, maybe in a little different way. They’re gonna like him. He’s tough, he’s smart, but he also cares about the players. He’s also a real organization guy; he likes to work with the scouts and with the GM.
Q: Your father was hopeful his Bellamy Road could win the 2006 Kentucky Derby.
A: He ran a disappointing race. The Derby’s an unusual race. The best horse doesn’t always win the Derby, to say the least.
Q: Is winning the Derby a dream of yours?
A: Yeah. We have the horse (Majestic Warrior) that may do it this next year. He’s a Derby-type horse, he’s got the pedigree and he’s got the ability.
Q: Fay Vincent’s suspension of your father?
A: I was surprised. I didn’t agree with it, I can tell you that, not just because he’s my dad. I didn’t think it was called for.
Q: Brian Cashman’s strengths?
A: He’s probably more frugal with money than myself or my brother are, or my dad was. The biggest thing he’s done these last few years is these young pitchers (Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy). Him and Damon Oppenheimer, and Mark Newman. Nobody gives you pitching. You gotta grow your own, and you gotta draft them, and they’ve done that. Nowadays, it’s very tough to be able to get a (David) Cone or a (David) Wells when they were at their peak. You saw what (the Giants) paid (seven years, $126 million) for (Barry) Zito.
Q: What did you think of the portrayal of your father in “The Bronx Is Burning?”
A: I really like Oliver Platt, I think he’s a really good actor; I don’t know if that’s the role for him.
Q: How about someone like Brian Dennehy?
A: Dennehy would be good, yeah.
Q: What was your reaction when your father called you to tell you he had bought the Yankees?
A: Very surprised, even though he had tried to buy the Indians years before.
Q: You rooted for the Indians. Favorite players?
A: Rocky Colavito, and also (Luis) Tiant.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: Kennedy. At that time, I was a history buff and loved all that stuff. I’d even thought of being a senator some day, which is what my parents thought I might be, and Kennedy (JFK) was the main guy. I was only 6 when he got shot.
Q: Describe the Yankee Way.
A: The Yankee Way is very simple; since the ’20s, it’s always been about winning championships, and to do it with class. That was all started with (Lou) Gehrig and (Joe) DiMaggio. (Babe) Ruth was a winner. He was a piece of work, you know?
Q: What do the Yankees mean to America?
A: Even with the popularity of football, the Yankees are the Yankees – no football team, or any other baseball team, compares. I haven’t been anywhere in this country where I haven’t seen Yankee hats, Yankee license plates all over the place. It never ceases to amaze me how many Yankee fans there are nationwide.
Q: New Yorkers?
A: New Yorkers are pretty amazing, I think. I’ll never forget that blackout. The entire city was walking together across the bridge to go home. Not an ounce of trouble. I don’t think that could happen in any other city. It was almost like something you’d see in Japan where everybody works together.
Q: Your father’s reaction when he took you to that Beatles concert in Cleveland when you were 7?
A: He was a (Frank) Sinatra and Tony Bennett guy and didn’t understand rock ‘n’ roll. He had no idea what to expect. When they walked out on the stage, Beatlemania broke loose. Girls were screaming down the aisle and jumping on the back of our chairs. He was looking around like, “What the bleep?” It was classic.
Q: You hated Culver Military Academy?
A: I don’t know if I hated it … I like it now. When I was there, the Class of ’76, none of us liked it. They went way over the top. To this day, our Class of ’76 doesn’t give much money to Culver, so it’s not just me.
Q: Way over the top?
A: It almost became like a prison camp.
Q: We see you in the newspaper with a cigarette in your mouth.
A: It’s not a good example for kids. It’s something I need to quit soon. My children are starting to get concerned and are trying to get me to quit.
Q: How much do you smoke?
A: About a pack a day.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Napoleon; Einstein; Mozart.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Magnificent Seven.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Steve McQueen.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: The Beatles when I was younger; U2 … I play the guitar, (Jimi) Hendrix was big too.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Pizza.