TAMPA — Has Hank Steinbrenner found his voice again?
It had been a while since Steinbrenner made back-page news. Then, Monday, he strongly suggested that Derek Jeter building a mansion interfered with the Yankees’ concentration in 2010.
After years of detachment from the Yankees while he was running the family’s Kinsman Stables in Ocala, Fla., Steinbrenner surfaced in 2007 at the end of the Joe Torre Saga.
Out front in a strong voice, he dominated the Yankees’ pursuit of Johan Santana, setting deadlines for the Twins to meet in 2007. Some believe that, had Steinbrenner not been so public, Santana would have been dealt to the Yankees instead of the Mets.
And then? Not exactly gone but the voice was muted. With George Steinbrenner stepping back, the four Steinbrenner offspring and wife Joan were told by MLB that one voice was needed to represent the Yankees on voting issues.
Hal, Hank’s younger brother, was the one by a unanimous family vote that included The Boss because a lot of the job had to do with the finances of a $5 billion empire.
“My brother has the head for this,” Hank said.
Hence, Hank stays out of the business end until big financial decisions are being made about players. He is consulted then, but if GM Brian Cashman needs more money, he goes to Hal.
When Hank went quiet, it was speculated he had stepped away from the decision-making process and that voices in the organization asked him to turn down the volume.
It was something he vowed was wrong.
“I gave my phone number to people and then all of a sudden everybody had it,” he told The Post in 2008. “It got to be too much. Unless you hear it from me or my brother, it doesn’t mean anything.”
The criticism Steinbrenner took in the media, which labeled him “Baby Boss” also played a part in him stepping away.
“He was angry about the way he was perceived for a while,” a friend said. “If he is going back out there again it’s probably because he feels a responsibility to Yankee fans just like his father did.”
Hank also played a part in the Joba Chamberlain starter/reliever debate in 2008. He pushed for Chamberlain to be converted from starter to reliever during the season, which was an unconventional way of making that transition.
A divorced father of four, the 53-year-old Hank lives in Clearwater, Fla. Hal and sisters Jennifer and Jessica reside in Tampa.
The Steinbrenner family owns about 60 percent of the Yankees, but it’s not known how that is split between the four siblings and their mother.
While Hank and Hal have their father’s steely eyes, Hank more resembles The Boss. His chin is similar, and he walks with the same strut his father did.
And he is certainly more comfortable talking to the media than Hal is.
When Hal talks, it’s on the move in clipped sentences. The past two days, Hank has stopped for long chats with the media.
Yesterday was a day he wasn’t scheduled to be at George M. Steinbrenner Field — where he took over his father’s office. However, he was aware of the firestorm his Monday words created and made a very public appearance in the lunch room.
In a scene borrowed from The Boss’ best days, reporters sat at tables feet away from Hank waiting for him to leave. When he got up to say hello to Mariano Rivera in the hall, reporters never gave him a chance to sit down.
He admitted the mansion remark was a “bad euphemism” but didn’t back off the possibility the Yankees celebrated the 2009 World Series title too long and it had an effect on the 2010 season in which the Yankees won 95 games, beat the Twins in the ALDS and were beaten by the Rangers, 4-2, in the ALCS.
