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Yankees, N.Y. City Free of The Boss’ Bondage

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NEWSDAY

The question now is which date to celebrate. Will future generations of New York Yankee fans light the sky with fireworks on July 30, the anniversary of the night when George Steinbrenner was sentenced to life as a silent partner? Or will they observe Aug. 20, when the decree of baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent takes effect, as Liberation Day in the Bronx?

Either would be appropriate and, in light of the club’s recent fortunes, maybe both.

After almost two decades of a management style characterized by sound and fury, Steinbrenner’s reign atop the most famous professional sports franchise in America is about to be terminated. The Prod of the Yankees has been blunted.

Acting with the authority and moral outrage that friend and predecessor Bart Giamatti had brought to bear upon the Pete Rose case last summer, Vincent reduced the club’s principal owner to minor shareholder Monday in the course of a daylong meeting. The most visible and vocal presence in New York sports agreed to mind his tongue and withhold opinions on players, managers and other baseball matters. In return, he was able to retain a financial share in the lucrative franchise and, as a limited partner of the Yankees, perhaps retain his seat on the board of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

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But there was no doubt that it was a major defeat for the man who held the club and, in a sense, the entire city hostage to his whims. Maybe now Yogi Berra can come home. Maybe now a manager will be allowed to finish an entire season. Maybe now decisions affecting the team can be made in a rational manner, with some attention paid to the future.

Now the self-styled captain will have to turn over the wheel, to let someone else make the decisions, if not the headlines.

As long as Steinbrenner was in charge, he owned the back page of the city’s tabloids and all the sound bites he could fill. And he grew into a national symbol for arrogant management, topped by his appearance on the current cover of Newsweek magazine. But now, if the agreement is rigorously enforced, baseball won’t have The Boss to kick around any more.

That should be reason enough for a holiday.

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