Hal Steinbrenner apologizes to Yankees fans, just like dad
NEW YORK » Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner apologized to the team’s fans for its postseason failure, much like his father did 39 years earlier.
The Yankees were eliminated with a
2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday, losing 3-2 in the Division Series. They have won the World Series once since
2000, in 2009.
“I’m very disappointed, obviously,” Steinbrenner said Tuesday on ESPN New York radio. “We invested a lot of time, energy, money into the team last offseason, and we all felt that we had a team that could win a championship, and we failed to do that. We didn’t even come close. So right now, at this point in time, all I can do is apologize to our fans. They deserved a better outcome than they got. Period. I mean, they just did.”
George Steinbrenner issued a similar statement following the team’s loss to the Dodgers in a six-game World Series in 1981.
“I want to sincerely apologize to the people of New York and to the fans of the New York Yankees everywhere for the performance of the Yankee team in the World Series,” he wrote then. “I also want to assure you that we will be at work immediately to prepare for 1982.”
Favored to win the AL East, the Yankees alternated hot and cold spurt.
“I guess I should be most disappointed with me. I’m responsible for all this in the end,” Hal Steinbrenner said. “It’s disappointing because the expectations, of course, were so high.”
New York went 22-9 at home and 11
18 on the road, and was dependent on home runs.
“Our offense was just inconsistent at playing up to their potential to me,” Steinbrenner said. “So many downs with the ups and highs with the lows, and the lows were every bit as extreme as the highs. And the highs were pretty good. When they were on, they were on. But it just seems like every game, including some of the postseason games, you just couldn’t tell which offense was going to show up.”