Open Letter To Hal Steinbrenner

Dear Hal;

Thank you for your encouraging words to the team the other day.  Your version of fire and brimstone is an excellent sleeping aid.

I wonder if you might find some stronger verbal incentives to motivate those who work for you, if you paid some attention to what is happening to the Yankee Brand, as you pursue mediocrity in the press and on the field.

Here is my idea;  buy a New York newspaper and read the sports section.

To prove my sincerity, I bought one for you.  Today, for $1.25,  I purchased a copy of The Daily News.  This used to be a decent tabloid, with excellent sports writers.  Now it is a putrid, newsless tabloid, with a decent sports section.  But it still exists in hard copy.

The Mets received:

1.  The back page in color.
2.  5 full pages on the inside.

The Yankees received :

1.  5/6 of an internal page, shared with a story about the Tampa pitcher who got hit in the face with a 92 mph fastball.

2.  The Yankee coverage was an enervating piece on the shitty season Tex is having.  No home
 runs ( for Tex ) in the last 34 days kind of thing.  Negative and boring. A re-hash of what we already knew.

Now hear this:  New York is rapidly and totally converting to a Mets town.  They were in the world series last year.  They will likely be in it again this year.  They are exciting and young.  They can hit, pitch and play defense.

The Yankees have given up the high ground.

The pre-sold season tickets at the stadium will not retain, if the product remains boring and uninspiring.

Like your words of inspiration.

Sincerely,

10 million fans.