Hank Steinbrenner Makes New York Yankees Interesting Again

I mean, if Girardi couldn’t get along with Jeffrey Loria down in Florida, how in the heck is he going to get along with Hank Steinbrenner? 

To steal a term from Hank, Loria’s a mouse compared to the younger Steinbrenner.

Didn't Girardi's issues in Florida start with his getting annoyed that Loria questioned his in-game strategy and yelled at umpires during games?  

What happens when Hank questions his decision not to pull a pitcher?  What happens the first time the Yanks go through a losing streak and Steinbrenner shows up in the clubhouse looking for answers?

The situation is as combustible as any I’ve ever seen.  All Yankee fans know this, whether they choose to admit it publicly or not.

They all know they’re nothing more than a six- or seven-game deficit to the Red Sox away from trading everyone in their farm system for an overpriced, heartless mercenary like Randy Johnson or Alex Rodriguez—who will inevitably fail them when it matters most.  

They all know that their great 90s dynasty was built mostly without the interference of the Steinbrenner family—and that until the Steinbrenner family backs off, they'll never get to that level again. 

As a Red Sox fan, this delights me to no end.  As a baseball fan, this is tremendous.

Major League Baseball is at its most healthy when the New York Yankees are an extremely talented, drama-riddled playoff loser.  

If they weren’t in the race, it wouldn’t be as interesting. 

When they win it all, like in the 90s, people get bored.

With the money they have, this team will always be in contention. With the owner they have and the city they're in, there will definitely be some kind of drama. And with that mix of hired mercenaries and unproven pitching, they're almost guaranteed to be a playoff loser.

Which should make Hank even more insane. 

Which in turn would only make us love him more.

Look, since George Steinbrenner went catatonic back in 2004, things just haven’t been the same.  The rivalry has been one-sided, the Yankees have struggled without having their livelihoods threatened, and it’s been generally boring in New York.   

I mean, if George were in his prime, the entire Yankee team would have been fired off the Brooklyn Bridge after the way last season ended.

Losing to the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs? It’s un-American, and more importantly, un-Yankee-ian.  George never would have stood for it.   Hank won’t stand for it when it happens this season.

And I can’t wait to see what happens next.

I’m SeanMC.

SeanMC is a Senior Writer at Bleacher Report. His archive can be found here. You can find everything he writes, including articles for other publications, here.

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