Steinbrenner Gets Angry with Jackson

Yankee Manager Joe Torre has raved throughout the playoffs about his team’s chemistry, about unselfish veterans putting the team ahead of themselves, about a togetherness born of a desire to win the World Series.

Apparently word never reached the front office.

Owner George Steinbrenner and former star Reggie Jackson reportedly engaged in a shouting match on a team bus en route to the airport after last Wednesday’s victory over Texas.

Steinbrenner wanted to know who had granted Jackson, a special advisor to the Yankees, permission to accompany the team to Texas. “You don’t go anywhere unless I tell you,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m the owner of this ballclub.”

To which Jackson reportedly replied, “I’m sick and tired of being embarrassed by you. I’m sick and tired of being humiliated. You treat me like an animal.”

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Steinbrenner also had stern words for third baseman Wade Boggs and right fielder Paul O’Neill, who combined to hit .111 in the division series, saying the veterans “need to step up. . . . We need a maximum effort from those guys.”

Said Boggs: “I’m trying 100%. If that’s not good enough for him, too bad. If he thinks I’m not trying, he better look somewhere else.”