BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE MAJORS : Yankees Apologize for Team Executive

The New York Yankees distanced themselves from team vice president Richard Kraft, who was quoted in a magazine as likening Bronx youngsters to monkeys.

Howard Rubenstein, spokesman for the team and owner George Steinbrenner, offered “an unequivocal apology for the statements attributed to Mr. Kraft” in the July 25 New York magazine.

Later, however, Rubenstein issued a statement from Kraft denying having made the comments.

The statement responded to a scathing denunciation earlier in the day by Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who demanded that Steinbrenner repudiate the comments personally and fire Kraft, who is in charge of the team’s community relations.