Steinbrenner Didn't Deserve 'Portfolio's' Treatment---Marketwatch, Friedman

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- "George Steinbrenner, the controversial owner of the New York Yankees, doesn't deserve Portfolio's shabby treatment.

• A 5,500-word piece by Franz Lidz, "Baseball After the Boss," smacks of "gotcha" journalism. It purports to offer a high-minded discussion of what will happen to the Yankees' fortunes after Steinbrenner, 77, dies or sells the team or loses his power within the organization. The story is in Portfolio's September issue, which hits newsstands on Aug. 15.

Oh, sure, the story discusses finances -- but Lidz's money shot is his description of an ailing man. Steinbrenner repeatedly says "Great to see ya!" to longtime friend Tom McEwen. McEwen had been ushered in to visit Steinbrenner at his Florida home, with Lidz in tow.

• Lidz writes after the meeting: "'I'm shocked,' McEwen tells me. 'George doesn't even seem like the same person. I figured he might be in a bad way, but I never expected this.'"

The party line is that Steinbrenner's publicist, Howard Rubenstein, rebuffed interview requests and forced Lidz to improvise.

• Sorry, but I don't buy a word of Portfolio's argument. I'm accustomed to hearing this kind of thing from a self-righteous Fortune 500 company or government official.

Let's put it another way. How would Portfolio feel if Si Newhouse, the beloved father of Conde Nast, was in similar ill health and a nosy media reporter managed to worm his or her way into his house to get a cheap scoop? I believe that Lidz invaded Steinbrenner's privacy.

Easy target

• Steinbrenner is a useful target. He's hated for signing lots of coveted free agents, going back to Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Goose Gossage in the 1970s. He has built Major League Baseball's biggest payroll, at about $200 million.

Steinbrenner is bombastic and bullying. Oliver Platt depicts the Boss neatly in "The Bronx Is Burning," ESPN's rather bombastic miniseries on the Yankees' tumultuous 1977 championship season .(Come to think of it, Larry David's uncredited and hilarious impersonation of the bossy, tough-talking "Big Stein" on "Seinfeld" was pretty accurate, too.)

• Mostly, though, baseball followers often resent Steinbrenner because he has been so successful. Since he took over the team in 1973, the Yankees have won six championships -- more than any other baseball franchise.

It seems to me that Portfolio is, and should be angriest at the ever-protective Rubenstein. Fair enough; he got in the magazine's way. Portfolio should go after him.

• Of course. Portfolio wouldn't be sending out press releases to trumpet an upcoming exposé on the likes of Howard Rubenstein.

Bad publicity

• Portfolio can ill afford any bad publicity these days. It's already coming off a week to forget.

According to media accounts, Editor Joanne Lipman forced out her deputy, Jim Impoco, because of their inability to see eye to eye. It's bad timing when a high-ranking member of the news team exits only days before the publication of the magazine's second issue.".........

• From Marketwatch article by Jon Friedman, 8/10/07, "George Steinbrenner Doesn't Deserve Portfolio's Story"

Via Poynter.org/Romenesko

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