Yankees change ownership

HAL STEINBRENNERAssumes father's role

NEW YORK - For more than three decades, George Steinbrenner's imprints were all over the New York Yankees.

Blockbuster trades, pricey signings, hirings, firings - they all needed his OK.

No more.

The omnipresent owner's colorful 35-year reign of pronouncements, threats, and bluster ended yesterday when he passed control of baseball's most famous and successful franchise to his youngest son, Hal.

"I realize it's a great responsibility," said Hal Steinbrenner, who turns 40 Dec. 3. "My dad is, needless to say, a tough act to follow."

The elder Steinbrenner has gradually withdrawn from the Yankees' day-to-day operations in recent years as his health faded, and brothers Hal and Hank were appointed co-chairmen in April.

George Steinbrenner, now 78, headed a group that bought the club in January 1973 for an $8.7 million net price and became one of the most high-profile owners in all of sports.

The Yankees regained their former glory, winning six World Series titles and 10 American League pennants from 1976-2003. They also transformed themselves into a sports empire that owns a cable television network and food concession company and is preparing to move into a $1.3 billion new Yankee Stadium next year.

Steinbrenner was baseball's longest-serving current owner, but has cut back his role with the team following fainting spells that required hospitalization in December 2003 and October 2006.

Baseball owners unanimously approved the change in control during a meeting yesterday in New York.

"He's been slowing down the last couple years," Hal Steinbrenner said. "Really, for the last two years I have been intimately involved with all aspects and all departments of the company."

Hal Steinbrenner shuns attention as much as his father craved it. But while Hank, 51, has become the public voice of the ownership in the past year, Hal was at Yankee Stadium far more frequently than his brother. Hal is responsible for financial operations of the club, and Hank oversees general manager Brian Cashman and the baseball operations.

George Steinbrenner retains his title as the team's chairman and his wife, Joan, is a vice chairperson along with their daughters, Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal and Jessica Steinbrenner.

"George is still going to be involved," Yankees president Randy Levine said. "This is really just a codification, with the commissioner's help and input, of what's been going on the last several years."