Steinbrenner a Man With Fire in Eyes

Lucky Bucky Dent became manager of George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees Friday. First thing he did was move Don Mattingly from third to second in the Yankee batting order.

Every poor slob who becomes manager of George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees has his own notion of how he is going to improve the ballclub. Bucky’s big idea was to move up Mattingly in the lineup.

Well, Mattingly is too much a gentleman to second-guess a new manager on his first day.

On the other hand, Mattingly has been around long enough that he no longer has much stomach for all this Yankee doodling around. He is fed up with seeing guys come and go.

So, if the new manager wanted to take a $2.5-million-a-year hitter and make him bat behind the leadoff man, fine.

Never mind that Mattingly ranks among the American League’s top five in runs batted in. Never mind that Mattingly is arguably the greatest hitter of this generation. Lucky Bucky sez: Let’s make him the No. 2 man in the lineup, so he can try to move the leadoff guy along.

Well, sure enough, Steve Sax led off Friday night’s game at Detroit by reaching base. Good start for the Bucky Era.

Then, up stepped Mattingly . . .

. . . who bunted.

He wasn’t ordered to bunt. He wasn’t dragging for a hit. He just decided to lay down the ol’ sacrifice for the good of the team. Yep. Uh-huh. In the first inning of a scoreless game.

Alas, it went foul.

This was just one seemingly insignificant moment in a fairly meaningless ballgame, but it spoke volumes. It was Don Mattingly’s subtle protest over the latest move by the Big Apple’s large barge of garbage--George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees.

“I still consider Dallas to be a good friend,” the owner’s statement read after Dallas Green got pink-slipped Friday.

Good friends? Hey, you bet good friends. George Steinbrenner still has seven different managers on his payroll, including Green. He is paying six people not to manage the New York Yankees. Now, that’s what we call a friend.

Green’s good bud flew all the way to Detroit to fire his pal, whose team was in sixth place. Naturally, this urgent matter couldn’t wait a few days, until the team got back to New York. Had to happen now .

“Manager Green!”

“Yes, mein boss!”

“You haf done poorly!”

“Yes, mein boss!”

“I vill still pay you!”

“Thank you, Herr Steinbrenner!”

“You may leave now! Don’t spit in der dugout!”

“Yes, mein former owner!”

Actually, Green stood up to Steinbrenner, because Green is his own man. He is his own man the same way Billy Martin was his own man, and the way Lou Piniella was his own man.

Maybe that has been the problem. Maybe the Yankees should hire somebody else’s man. Steinbrenner woke up one morning last week, scratched himself, kicked the dog, then decided to fire a few coaches. He told Dallas Green his plan. Green looked him in the eye and said, and this is an exact quote: “If you’re gonna fire anybody, you’d better start with the head honcho.”

Picture this scene with Dallas Green wearing chaps and a vest and cowboy boots and speaking in John Wayne’s voice. It’ll help. “Now listen, pilgrim, and listen tight. You ain’t a-firin’ nobody ‘round here ‘lessin’ it’s the head honcho.”

There. That’s more like it.

The trouble with George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees, Green went on to say Friday, was that to manage the Yankees, you need to “succumb to George Steinbrenner.”

Succumb? Sounds like something a wrestler would do after Steinbrenner jumped off the top rope. Succumb. Let’s see. How would the classified ad read?

“Wanted: Manager of major league baseball team. Must be dignified, seasoned, intelligent baseball career man, willing to succumb to owner. Send letter and photograph to: House Ruth Built, Bronx, N.Y., c/o Wacko in Front Office. Previous experience managing New York Yankees not necessarily necessary.”

Yankee slugger Ken Phelps went so far as to say: “George wanted a puppet.”

With one exception, Ken: Steinbrenner is no ventriloquist. This is one act where the dummy works the controls.

This has been another stupendous season for George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees, who have become a sixth-place team after adding Steve Sax to the squad. Imagine where they would be without Sax, who is hitting around .320.

Steinbrenner recently said he would like to have “24 Steve Saxes.” Someday, he probably will. He’ll trade Mattingly and a cow for three magic beans.

The 24 Saxes, meanwhile, will make 27 outs each game by getting singles and then getting thrown out trying to stretch them into doubles.

As for Bucky Dent, he should “X” off a calendar every day, like a prisoner. He is the manager of George Steinbrenner’s New York Yankees, a job with a great title, great benefits and no real authority. It’s sort of like being Dan Quayle.