The Son Also Rises

Sorry, the jury's still out on that one.

It isn't easy being the child of somebody famous. You become a footnote, and what's left of your identity is completely swallowed up by the enormous shadow of your mother or father's legacy. It doesn't matter if you're a goofy, blonde-haired parasite like Paris Hilton who doesn't mind cashing in on her last name. But if you're Jakob Dylan, and everybody is waiting for you to write the sequel to "Desolation Row", it's gotta be difficult.

But, as always, there are a few exceptions to the rule. For every Julian Lennon, there are success stories like Jane Fonda or Arlo Guthrie or Robert Downey, Jr. It is possible to step away from living as an incomplete, second-hand person and constructing an identity that's exclusively yours and you don't have to share with anybody else.

This is the crossroads that Hank Steinbrenner has found himself, and it's hard to figure out what side of the divide he's on because he probably doesn't know either. As the son of Mr. George ("Boss") Steinbrenner, one of the most famous owners in the history of baseball, Hank is now in charge of the New York Yankees, a team that has seen good times and bad.

As with the last days of Ronald Reagan, George Steinbrenner became a prop to be wheeled out for photo-ops. Although nobody said it out loud, everybody knew that Hank was in charge because his ailing father wasn't capable anymore of making the hard business decisions. But when Hank (un)officially took the throne, the glory days of the 90s, where the Yankees won four World Championships in five years were over. This once-proud franchise was a bad team burdened with aging superstars, an ugly junkyard of a farm system, and no clear idea on how to fix it. It's as though his ailing father handed him the keys to an used rustbucket with a dirty cardboard "As Is" sign scotch-taped on the windshield. Yeah, take her out for a spin, Hank.

Then again, to be fair, that sounds a lot like what the Boss had to work with when he first bought the team a hundred years ago. Old farts like me remember how Steinbrenner revitalized the Yankees by aggressively pursuing whatever free agents happened to be available, hiring big-name managers, and not being afraid to spend money. At the end of his turbulent reign, Boss Steinbrenner transformed the Yankees into a pinstriped, championship-winning ATM. As Frank Sinatra sang, the Boss did it his way.

So far, and one world championship later, the kid ain't doing too bad.

Still, It's a tough act to follow. We'll see if Hank can make a name for himself or if he'll wind up just a chip off the old Boss.