Text size:

From The Boss to The Donald?

Don't rule out Trump following Steinbrenner as Yankee owner

Jim Baumbach

April 2, 2007

This whole guessing game regarding whom George Steinbrenner is going to pick as his Chosen One is fun, but not complete. Let's not overlook the possibility that The Boss's family could simply cash in on this pinstriped-empire after George is gone.

So forget for a second what the Yankees might look like with missives coming from the desk of sons Hal or Hank or son-in-law Felix Lopez. Instead, let's do what the Yankees have always done best, look outside the organization for the right person.

Tell me, who is the first person you think of when you read this question: What entrepreneur today has the financial resources to buy the Yankees -- and the ego to embrace perhaps the highest-profile position in all sports?

Donald Trump.

Jim Baumbach Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Don't you laugh, because Donald Trump himself didn't take it as a joke when I presented this hypothetical scenario to him last Wednesday afternoon. I caught up with him at a news conference promoting his bizarre involvement in Wrestlemania 23, which took place yesterday, and he made it clear that he would like to own a team some day.

"If the right thing came up," Trump said, "I would be interested."

That gave me the perfect opening to ask him about the Yankees. What if the Steinbrenner family one day decided to sell the Yankees, I asked Trump. Would that interest you? He looked away from me, broke eye contact. He paused for a brief second, seemingly trying to find the right way to answer a question he surely wasn't anticipating.

Of course Trump would never say he would have interest out of respect for Steinbrenner, a longtime friend of his. (Remember, Steinbrenner made a cameo on the first season of The Apprentice.) "I just hope that never happens because they've done an amazing job and George is a friend of mine," he said. "I hope that never happens."

Yankees fans hope it never happens, either. But everyone knows there will be a day when Steinbrenner is no longer the owner, and Trump could be one of the first in line to try on his pinstripes. Call this semantics, if you will, but for what it's worth Trump never really answered the hypothetical question with a definitive denial.

And at that point, with my line of questioning clear, the interview was basically over. I asked him how Steinbrenner is doing these days, and Trump answered the same way most people close to The Boss talk about his health. They don't.

"George is doing great. I saw him. He is doing fantastic," Trump said as he took one step away from me, then another, and now his eyes are off looking at something in the distance. "George will never change. He is doing fantastically."

Steinbrenner will be at Yankee Stadium this afternoon for Opening Day, as always. And if Trump makes it back to New York from Wrestlemania in time for the 1 p.m. start, he will accompany Steinbrenner in his box, as he always does for big games.

Maybe, just maybe, some day that box will belong to The Donald, where he would undoubtedly film episodes of The Apprentice, the Yankees' front-office edition.

***

On a somewhat related note, a group of reporters will be assigned to stake out Steinbrenner outside the Stadium later this afternoon, just in case this is one of those rare days when The Boss decides to speak. We can only report back to you in print what we see and hear from the man who used to call up beat reporters to plant stories back in the day.

But thanks to the power of the Internet, here's a two-minute video clip of Steinbrenner signing autographs for fans outside Legends Field two weeks ago. If you turn up the volume, you'll hear The Boss interacting with fans. Long live, YouTube.