Better we can’t see George Steinbrenner handling these Yankees

Most days, it’s just an easy punch line, a cudgel to angrily swing as you’re cursing at your television set. Most days, the reasonable fans roll their eyes and quote Billy Joel when they hear the fractious lament, and sing: “The good old days weren’t always good.”

Most days.

But the Yankees’ season has officially reached a crucible where it’s almost impossible not to ask the question, even if you’re among the silent majority who believe it’s best to let the baseball season play out over the whole 162. Even uber-patient fans can’t help themselves. They ask the question after a stretch like this:

What would George do?

What would George do if he watched the Mets finish off a season sweep of the Subway Series by making Yankees fans wistful for the 10-run mercy rule?

What would George do if, before the seventh-inning stretch, Yankee Stadium had already been abandoned by most of the less masochistic Yankees fans, taken over instead by the infernal chant of “Let’s go Mets!” Let’s go METS! LET’S GO METS!”?

What would George do if the Yankees had gone on an extended tour through the wilderness that is now 10-22 after this 12-3 demolition. What would he do if he realized the Yankees won 50 games before losing their first 22 games of the season then won just 10 before losing their next 22?

What would George do if this same inept, anemic lineup were run out there day after day, if the cleanup spot for the New York Yankees, which is supposed to be the most stylish P.O. Box in sports, had become a daily revolving door?

Well, look, we know what George would do: He would’ve raised hell. He’d have crushed his players in the clubhouse, threatened his manager on the back pages of the newspapers, probably swung his ax. In legend, as years pass, there’s a fond glow to all of this.

But if you’re old enough, you know that what George did do was only rarely a cure. It was in 1978, when replacing Billy Martin with Bob Lemon was a panacea. Mostly it was firing good men like Dick Howser, or exiling good men like Stick Michael, all in the name of being a tough boss, a demanding boss, a boss who was also a fan and sometimes forgot the difference. And didn’t solve much.

George Steinbrenner likely would’ve enjoyed Aaron Boone’s press conference after this slaughter, in which Boone naturally included some of the “it’s all there in front of us” platitudes that frustrate so many fans (and, if we’re being honest, would likely have caused Steinbrenner to change the locks on Boone’s office door over the All-Star break).

“We gotta play better, okay? We have it right in front of us. We’re a really good team that has played s–tty of late. We need to be better.”

– Aaron Boone pic.twitter.com/qR3s0yaKZN

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 25, 2024

But there was also — finally — some salt in Boone’s words, some edge. You suspect this is more the version of Boone the Yankees see behind closed doors when he’s angry. When they’re playing lousy, and it was a refreshing peek behind the curtain.

There was this: “Nobody has higher expectations than us in that freaking room. We’re pissed off. We have to play better. This has gone on long enough. I know we’re competing our asses off. No one’s going to pull us out of this but us.”

And this, the volume of the voice inched up a couple of spots: “Right now we’re getting our teeth kicked in and we’ve got to change that. “We’ve played s—ty of late, and we have to be better.”

And this, with the tone now of a father who’s caught his kids with a keg hidden in their tree house: “Call it a stretch, a slump, recently … I don’t give a s–t. It’s no fun going through it. I know how hard this game is. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us, especially wearing this uniform.”

So on this day, what George might’ve done is salute his manager for proving he cared as much as the Boss did. Maybe heads wouldn’t roll just yet, maybe players wouldn’t be exiled first thing in the morning. Maybe the father, in fact, would be placated enough by Boone’s rare display of fire to act more like the son, Hal, and to trust his people, trust in the long season.

The teams around the Yankees, after all, keep losing, too. They haven’t been buried. Maybe they should have been, but they’re not. So when Boone brings that up, it’s also an honest point.

Still … 12-3 is hard to watch, against anybody, but specifically the Mets. The past month has been hard to watch.

What would George do? In this case, it may make sense to ask the question. But it’s still probably best to not have to witness the repercussions of the answer.