With Yankees at low ebb in 1990, other teams root for them to come back.

"Baseball measures its well-being by the success of franchises in the major cities. And no team's aura has enhanced the game more than that of the Yankees."..."There's despair throughout the organization." (8/5/90)

• 8/5/90, Claire Smith, NY Times: "WHEN George Steinbrenner was ordered by Commissioner Fay Vincent to give up operational control of the New York Yankees last week, Americans who treasure baseball as the national pastime and those with a stake in the game as a business both had reason to feel relieved.
• One of the most demoralizing eras in a fabled franchise's history had ended....

But while Vincent's action was aimed solely at protecting the sport from the taint of Steinbrenner's dealings, baseball will surely welcome an important side effect:

• an overhaul of the Yankees' image as a laughingstock and a renegade in the baseball world.

''They are one of the premier, recognizable sports franchises in the world,'' said John Schuerholz, general manager of the Kansas City Royals. ''They still have that reputation, despite what has happened in the last several years or so.

• But definitely it's for all of our best interests to have the Yankees be a viable and competitive team. If they are, it can only be great for our game.''

Baseball measures its well-being by the success of franchises in the major cities. And no team's aura has enhanced the game more than that of the Yankees.

''There are other teams asserting themselves, who stand on their own as far as being great draws,'' said Tom Grieve, general manager of the Texas Rangers. ''The Toronto Blue Jays, the Oakland A's are doing very well. The Dodgers have always done well. But it would probably take a team like the Blue Jays or our Rangers 50 years' worth of winning championships to reach that plateau in terms of recognition.''

Andy MacPhail, the grandson of a former Yankees owner, Larry MacPhail, and now general manager of the Minnesota Twins, agrees. ''Undoubtedly there is some magic about the pinstripes,'' MacPhail said.

• ''So it's important that the Yankees be at least representative, to take in as much of their share on the competitive cycle as the game allows.

• They can't stay down or it hurts us all.''

Television ratings, and the revenues they generate, rise when teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Mets and Red Sox do well. Those teams are to baseball what the Celtics are to basketball and the Cowboys are to football -franchises vital to a sport's image, national appeal and viability as a business.

Steinbrenner came close to irreparably damaging the reputation of baseball's most lucrative franchise.

His dictatorial dismissals, demotions and banishments left executives of other teams wondering whom on the Yankees they could deal with. A bemused official once asked, ''Who do you call if you want to make a trade with the Yankees?''...

• The Yankees players knew that rivals depended on the
• distractions that the team had under Steinbrenner.

• ''Other teams counted on it,'' said Don Baylor, once the Yankees' designated hitter. ''If for one week, five days, you were not focused,

• it could cost you a pennant.''

''I don't know what drives the man to say and do the things he does, except he's the owner and has that perceived right,'' Dallas Green said before he was dismissed as manager last August. ..."My only comeback is if we're dealing with somebody who really looks at what happened in the past, he should learn from the past. The interference isn't right.'' Not Taken Seriously

Steinbrenner did not listen to Green, or to anyone.

• The Yankees ceased being considered seriously as
• a pennant contender.

• Eventually even the free-agent market could not help the Yankees.

Early on, Steinbrenner won praise for restoring the pride of the Yankees, with lavish spending to lure Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Goose Gossage and their winning ways to New York.

• But the acclaim stopped
• when the winning did,

• and as top free agents, with an occasional exception,

• spurned the Yankees.

The pitcher Floyd Bannister once told the Yankees not to bother making an offer. Last year the Yankees offered Mark Langston, another free-agent pitcher, $18 million. He signed with the California Angels for $2 million less.

• The Yankees are now at a critical stage. They must choose a new general partner. They are said to be leaning toward Steinbrenner's choice, his son Hank. No matter who it is, Steinbrenner's successor will represent an opportunity to plot the course back into baseball's fold.

''It's going to take some hard work and some good baseball people to get that thing right,'' said Green.

• ''There's despair throughout the organization.''

(One hears people talk with great authority about the Yankees. My impression is most of them are either unaware of the team's recent history or have forgotten it). sm

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