Pete Abraham: Writers Were Chumps

It’s not uncommon for the Yankees' beat writers to receive criticism for how they do their jobs, after all we all know better than them don’t we? But this time it is one of their own doing the criticizing as the Journal News' Peter Abraham called them all, including himself, chumps for taking Hank Steinbrenner seriously in 2008.

He pointed out how Hank’s role has become so limited that he was not even in attendance at yesterday's press conference. He was also not on the field during the closing ceremonies of Yankee Stadium back in September.

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“It’s pretty sad what a pack of chumps New York baseball writers were a year ago (myself included), lining up to quote Hank. Meanwhile Hal was actually running the team.”

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In a separate post, Abraham went on to say how much Hal Steinbrenner is beginning to act and speak like ol’ George.

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“Right from the beginning, when Hal – who is clearly the only Steinbrenner that matters right about now – repeatedly mentioned how the Yankees are committed to, basically, spending a ton of money because ‘the fans deserve it.’ Referencing the fans was a big thing with George Steinbrenner, and as Hal brought it up over and over, it was hard not to imagine his father doing the same thing.

Obviously Hal (and Randy Levine and Lonn Trost and other officials) were upset about remarks made by people around baseball regarding their haul of players this winter. ‘We had about $80 million come off (the payroll),’ Hal said. ‘So we have some money to spend, and we’re going to reinvest it. That’s going to continue, whether people like it or not. That’s for the fans. They deserve the best team we can put out there.’

Hal also said that if owners don’t like it, ‘I’m not going to lose any sleep about it.’ Very George-ish, too.”

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So hopefully in the future certain fans will not take Hank so serious when he opens his big mouth.