Hank and Hal Steinbrenner seem current favorites--NY Times

Richard Sandomir on likely candidates in line of succession: Hank and Hal top the list:

• "Hank Steinbrenner’s enhanced role — if not a major public profile — contrasts with the dramatically reduced presence of Swindal at spring training since his arrest on a charge of driving under the influence on Feb. 15, the day after he and his wife separated, according to the divorce filing.

Swindal had until then grown more comfortable in his role, projecting a calm and positive personality while remaining deferential to his father-in-law, who seemed almost to blurt out the news that Swindal would succeed him during a news conference in 2005 about the new Yankee Stadium.

• Two Yankee front office executives who discussed the situation felt the Swindal announcement meant little, and one of them said the reason Swindal would never take over for Steinbrenner was simple: he is not a Steinbrenner.

Harvey Schiller, a former chairman of YankeeNets, the predecessor to Yankee Global Enterprises, said, “George has nurtured his children well and all of them are capable of running the team.”

• In the areas that the brothers are said to work in, Randy Levine, the team’s president, Lonn Trost, the chief operating officer, and Brian Cashman, the general manager, have considerable power.

“We’re not going to describe any of their activities,” Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for Steinbrenner, said yesterday of the sons.

• How much either of the Steinbrenner sons is interested in the team has been reflected in Hank Steinbrenner’s daily presence at the Yankees’ Tampa complex for much of the last five months, paying attention to baseball operations. He is not seen in the clubhouse or the press box, but is usually in the team offices on the fourth floor of Legends Field.

And he has been observed wearing an ensemble that seems straight out of his father’s closet: a blue blazer and a turtleneck."

• From the NY Times article by Richard Sandomir, 3/30/07, "Power Atop the Yankees Looks to Remain a Steinbrenner Affair." Requires cookies.

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon