Hal Steinbrenner On WFAN: I'm A Very Different Man Than My Father
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Ever since Hal Steinbrenner took over for his dad, fans and pundits alike have compared the two.
George Steinbrenner, who passed away in 2010, is revered as one of the greatest owners in the history of professional sports. Hal -- the Yankees' principal owner, managing general partner and co-chairman -- has had big shoes to fill since taking over the team's day-to-day operations beginning in 2007.
Hal admitted on Thursday -- as he's done before -- that although he and his late father share many similarities, he's a very different man than George was.
Hal Steinbrenner
"My dad was great," Steinbrenner told WFAN host Mike Francesa. "But as I've said from day one, my dad and I are similar in some ways (and) we are different in some ways. We just have different personalities. People see me as not passionate; that's certainly not the case. I may hide it a little bit better, try to control it a little bit better.
"Whatever word you want to use, we are different. Of course I'm different, and of course I'm going to react in certain circumstances or situations different than he does."
The Yankees have missed the playoffs two years in a row, and many are projecting them to fall short for a third consecutive time in 2015. That, combined with two losses to the Mets in spring training, has prompted many "What what George do?" columns and tweets.
Steinbrenner isn't concerned with that, and maintains that none of that talk bothers him. He has faith in his team, and said that it's unacceptable for it to miss the postseason any year.
The 45-year-old also sounded enthusiastic about the organization's younger players. For the first time in a long time, he said, there are several promising minor leaguers who are close to contributing at the big league level.
General manager Brian Cashman was more conservative in free agency this past offseason than he was the year prior, but Steinbrenner made it clear that it's all cyclical. When money comes off the books, Steinbrenner said he'll always re-invest to make the team more competitive. This simply wasn't the time to do that.
Oh, and as for the rumors that he's considering selling the team? You can forget them.
"There's absolutely no plans to sell the Yankees," Steinbrenner told Francesa. "This is a family business. I'm not the only one involved. My brother's involved, (my) sister's involved. It's just a family business, it's something we enjoy working together (on). We know it would be important for our dad to carry on the tradition.
"We're not going anywhere. I assure you."
