Yankees blow Levine's save in buried shirt debacle
With the volatile Steinbrenner clan at the helm and enough interpersonal drama in the locker room to dwarf “Project Runway,” the New York Yankees are not generally noted for their sense of humor. But the pinstripes showed one – and pretty good PR game – this weekend when they found out that a Red Sox-leaning construction worker buried a David Ortiz jersey in new Yankee Stadium concrete.
After the offending jersey was jack hammered out of the floor at considerable cost, Yankees President Randy Levine wisely planted tongue in cheek when he talked to the media. He said the team considered leaving the jersey “because it’s never a good thing to be buried in cement when you’re in New York,” and that might not be a bad fate for a symbol of the Yankee-killing Red Sox power hitter. Then Levine deftly wiped the last droplets of yolk off the Yankees’ collective face when he announced the team was donating the shirt to the Boston-based Jimmy Fund to auction off as a donation for research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The Jimmy Fund is, of course, the Red Sox long-time marquee charity.
As a lifelong Sox fan I wish Big Papi’s shirt was entombed in the Yankee stonework pumping out bad juju for the next 100 years. As a PR professional, I have to admire Levine’s sharp response. If the Yankees had left it at that, the scales would have tilted in their favor, at least from a PR perspective. But the Yankees being the Yankees, couldn’t let it go. COO Lonn Trost has now hinted at legal action against the prankster – who turns out to be a resident of the team’s very own Bronx.
And Village Voice blogger Heather Muse reported that co-owner Hank Steinbrenner threw a hissy fit when he got the news. Steinbrenner was quoted saying “I hope his coworkers kick the !@#$% out of him. It’s a bunch of bull&*^%.” The prankster invited Steinbrenner to try and do the kicking himself, but only if he brought Yankees catcher Jorge Posada. No word yet on whether or not Steinbrenner has accepted the offer.
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