Sportswriter Who Broke Steinbrenner/Torre Bombshell Credits Persistence -- and Luck

By: Joe Strupp When Ian O'Connor of The Record in Hackensack, N.J., got a hold of New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner last weekend, he thought he might get some insight into the boss' view of the struggling team's playoff chances or the future of star third baseman Alex Rodriguez.

What he got was one of the baseball scoops of the year - a clear threat by Steinbrenner that he would likely fire Manager Joe Torre if the team lost its first-round playoff series to the Cleveland Indians. Now that that loss has occurred, with the Yankees 6-4 defeat Monday night, all eyes are on the volatile owner to see if, or more likely when, he will make good on his threat.

But among the sportswriting brethren, eyes are also on O'Connor, the veteran sports columnist who has done stints with USA Today and the New York Daily News. His bombshell scoop has not only brought new attention to the New Jersey daily, but also proved once again that persistent reporting and source relationships pay off.

"The timing was right, George was available and it was a lot of serendipity involved here," O'Connor said by phone Tuesday. "I got lucky."

But old-fashioned reporting also played a role, O'Conner said. The story began when he heard that Steinbrenner, a Florida resident who rarely visits New York, was in town for the Yankee playoff series.

He said he had interviewed the owner about a dozen times in the past and had a New York phone number for him, so he tried to call Saturday afternoon. After getting no response twice, he made a third call that night.

"It is a good message to always make that extra call," O'Connor said. "Since I had tried a couple of times and failed during the day it would have been easy not to call. But I tried one more time and got lucky."

O'Connor said asking about Torre's future was not even the top priority, with questions about the Yankees' chances in the playoff series and the future of Rodriguez seemingly more important. "There isn?t much shooting the breeze with him when we talk," he said. "I asked about his health, Rodriquez, and then Torre. That is when he gave me his answer."

That answer, which has since been repeated by numerous news outlets nationwide, was this quote: "(Torre's) job is on the line?I think we're paying him a lot of money. He's the highest-paid manager in baseball, so I don't think we'd take him back if we don't win this series."

O'Connor said he reminded Steinbrenner of Torre's accomplishments since his hiring in 1995, including four World Series championships. He said the owner acknowledged that, but remained firm.

The veteran sportswriter, aware of Steinbrenner's medical and emotional problems in recent years, said he went into the interview with the idea that he would not use anything if Steinbrenner appeared to be confused or in poor health. "I told myself if he does not seem lucid and clear-minded, or confused in any way, I was not going to write a story," he said. "He seemed very lucid and in a lot of ways the George Steinbrenner I interviewed in previous calls."

Admitting "there are other journalists who have a closer relationship with George," O'Connor made clear that he has no lock on interviews with the boss. But he said his longtime "solid working relationship with the guy" made getting the interview easier. "Over the years, he has returned probably 75% of my calls."

A Torre supporter, O'Connor admits having mixed feelings over the information he was reporting, but says the news value of what he obtained was the most important thing: "I am a journalist and if George Steinbrenner is going to say these things, I have to be a journalist and reporter and report it."

Interestingly, it was an O'Connor column in 1995 for the Daily News that some still point to as the New York press's first reaction to the hiring of Torre, whom many considered ill-equipped for the job. Under the now-famous headline, "Clueless Joe," the sportswriter described the new manager as being clueless for thinking that working for Steinbrenner would not be difficult.

O'Connor, a New Jersey resident and former delivery boy for the Record, welcomes the positive attention the scoop is giving his hometown daily. "It has definitely raised the profile of the paper," he said. "Obviously, the paper was very happy with it. It was just timing and circumstances coming together."