hal steinbrenner

Over the next two weeks, the New York Yankees will have faced the first-place Tampa Bay Rays for 4-games; the fourth-place Toronto Blue Jays for 4-more; and then the second-place Baltimore Orioles for a trio to cap off the two week run.

As one of the greatest Major League Baseball players faced the grim reality of premature death, Lou Gehrig considered himself "the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Though he eventually would die at the unthinkable age of 37, less than two years later, Gehrig never lost the appreciation of putting on a New York Yankees uniform. That treasured sentiment continues today in the Bronx Bombers locker-room.

The New York Yankees' franchise is among the elites in professional sports, which makes this story about their players paying for their own Wi-Fi even more odd.

Ask any coach or manager to name two characteristics a team needs to win a championship. Among the top responses will mostly often be: depth and experience. Those attributes help front offices win championships, as well. On Tuesday, the New York Yankees got a little deeper in the front office with an old friend with a ton of good experience and happens to sport a few recent World Series rings.

Before signing Aaron Judge to his new deal, New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner met Pope Francis, leaving fans wondering if Judge's return was a divine act.

It is an age-old story in New York. When the iconic Yankees are good, they rule the region. In fact, it was 65 years years ago that the Bronx Bombers' National League neighbors, the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers abandoned their fanbases and moved across the country. Many believed the move was primarily done to get away from the powerful lure of the team in pinstripes. Many decades later and billions of dollars ready to spend, Mets owner Steve Cohen is at least trying to put up a fight for his Queens franchise.

The New York Yankees accomplished their top priority of the 2022 MLB Winter Meetings. They brought Aaron Judge home, making him the highest paid position player in the game, for now. That celebration didn't last very long, as general manager Brian Cashman left San Diego with a roster still marred with question marks.

Headlines from New York City aren't very positive these days. Shootings, unprovoked subway attacks, rats and despair fill the Big Apple media front pages on a daily basis. Even the New York sports world received an expected blow on Friday when Jacob deGrom left the Mets without so-much a goodbye. So, when Jon Heyman from nypost.com incorrectly tweeted on Tuesday that Aaron Judge had split from the Bronx to San Francisco, it felt like Gotham lost Batman for a better deal in another city.

New York Yankees fans can start to get excited. According to reports #99 indeed appears to be returning to the Bronx for a very long time. It also appears that Hal Steinbrenner was true to his word that the Pinstripes weren't going to let money get in the way of bringing the home run champion back home.

After the 2022 season, manager Don Mattingly parted ways with the Miami Marlins after seven seasons at the helm. Immediately following his departure from the sunshine state's southernmost MLB team, there was speculation that Mattingly may be reunited with the New York Yankees, in some capacity. However on Tuesday, Mattingly joined a Major League Baseball writer's podcast and indicated that he may be returning to the American League East but it may not be the Yankees.

Not one, but both of New York's baseball teams have been implicated in a collusion scandal over the biggest free agent in Major League Baseball this offseason.

At 5pm on Thursday, Major League Baseball teams will have an open opportunity to sign the predominant favorite to win the 2022 American League MVP, Aaron Judge. New York Yankees fans will sit on pins and needles, as organizations begin to make their offers to the larger than life #99. Early reports out of the general managers' meetings in Las Vegas were that "league personnel" believe Judge will return to the Bronx. However, there are a few teams ready to complicate that transaction and have the cash to do it.