Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner finally has another pennant to call his own

CLEVELAND — Hal Steinbrenner stood alone on the infield dirt near the middle of the diamond at Progressive Field early Sunday morning as workers hurriedly put together the makeshift stage where the Yankees' managing general partner soon would accept the trophy representative of the franchise’s 41st American League pennant.

It had been years, of course, since Steinbrenner last accepted the William Harridge Trophy, awarded to the AL winner — not quite 15 years to the day. The last time was Oct. 25, 2009, after the Yankees beat the Angels in Game 6 of that year’s ALCS at the Stadium.

“I’m a little bit emotional right now,” Steinbrenner told Newsday, his voice not cracking but his tone reflecting the comment.

Offering the slightest of smiles, he continued: “You got me in a weak moment there. I haven’t done this in 15 years.”

For Yankees fans, it had seemed far longer than that. For the owner, too.

“A long time,” he said. “It felt long.”

It was.

Andy Pettitte, who earned the win in that 5-2 victory over the Angels after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings,  now is an organizational adviser, 52 years old and a grandfather. He attended the first two games of the Yankees’ Division Series against the Royals and all three ALCS games at Progressive Field.

Steinbrenner, a fresh-faced 39-year-old on that distant chilly night at the Stadium — seemingly incapable of growing a beard that would have put him in violation of the club’s long-standing policy against such things even if he had wanted to — looks younger than his 54 years, but the descriptions of him as “boyish” are far in the past.

So, too, is his status as a fan favorite.

That was the case in 2009. Steinbrenner at that point was just a year into his tenure as managing general partner, having taken the reins from his older brother Hank, who ran the club briefly as Major League Baseball’s control person after their father, George, in rapidly declining health, ceded control of the team’s day-to-day operations to the brothers in 2007 (George died in 2010, Hank in 2020).

Since George — aka “The Boss” — passed away, the remaking in public of his time as owner grew into myth. The many years of dysfunction from the 1970s, '80s and early '90s — featuring a head-swiveling number of changes in the chairs of manager and general manager as well as multiple suspensions of the often bombastic owner — were paved over by the success of his later years. The Yankees earned five World Series titles between 1996-2009, including three straight championships from 1998-2000.

In the years after The Boss’ death, as the Yankees continually failed to get back to the World Series, Hal Steinbrenner gradually became as unpopular with the fan base as his father once was.

He heard prolonged booing from fans at the Stadium during separate on-field ceremonies in 2022 — the first on Aug. 21 of that year during Paul O’Neill’s jersey retirement celebration and the second coming on Sept. 9 when Derek Jeter was honored for his induction into the Hall of Fame.

Fortunately for Steinbrenner, there were no such public events in 2023 as the wheels came off in an 82-80 season in which  the Yankees missed the playoffs. Howls for the heads of manager Aaron Boone and general manager Brian Cashman, an organizational lifer and the GM since 1998, were never louder. Steinbrenner stuck with both, as well as with the organization’s all-in approach when it comes to the use of analytics and data science.

The latter has been a frequent criticism here when it comes to how much of that is dispensed to players and the bedside manner, or lack thereof, of some empowered with the dispensing, an issue with more than a few players over the years that reached a tipping point in 2023. Though far from perfect, there was some improvement in those areas this season, though in-depth examination of that is for another day.

“The Steinbrenner family has been amazing to me,” said Boone, whose three-year contract expires after this season. He has a club option for 2025 that is a near-lock to get picked up.

“I knew Boone was a great manager,” Steinbrenner said on the field. “He really is a good manager for all the reasons I’ve talked about in the past. The team wants to play for him, the team’s behind him, and I think this is a testament to that.”

By then, the stage had been erected, with players and staff filling it out. Steinbrenner joined them, was introduced to the remaining crowd — comprising several thousand Yankees fans — and heard cheers.

It had been 15 years.

It had been, as Steinbrenner said, a long time.