It was February 2006 and Steve Trapani was tired.
He was in his last night of a four-day trip to Florida where he toured Major League spring training sites in an effort to drum up some business for Jamestown-based Superior Bat Company.
"It was a Thursday night and I was getting ready to come home,'' said Trapani, a Falconer resident who has been a bat salesman for six years. "I was talking to my wife (on the phone) and told her I was going to get something to eat.''
Realizing he'd been working long hours, Mindy suggested that her husband treat himself to a nice dinner at a Tampa restaurant.
Steve had other ideas.
See KINDBERG, Page C-2
From Page C-1
Three doors down from his hotel was an International House of Pancakes. To him, it was a no-brainer.
"I went in and had my breakfast,'' he recalled earlier this week.
Professionally and personally it may have been, figuratively speaking, the most delicious hour he'd ever spent.
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The YES Network will debut a George Steinbrenner ''Yankeeography'' on Aug. 21, but Steve won't have to watch it to learn of the The Boss' generosity.
Steve has seen it first hand.
More than once.
Maybe it's a side of the aging Yankees' owner that you never knew existed, but Steve, 49, wants people to know what kind of person he truly is.
Being in the right place at the right time doesn't hurt either.
His meal finished, Steve headed toward the door at the IHOP when he noticed there was a gorgeous picture of Yankee Stadium hanging in an archway. Nearby were some 5x7 Yankees photographs taped to a fish tank. The photos were taken by an IHOP waitress named Judy, who engaged Steve in some small talk as he headed for the door.
"George is here.''
"George who?''
"George Steinbrenner. He's right around the corner. He always sits in the same booth.''
Steve peered at the table and, sure enough, there was the Yankees' owner, drinking a glass of orange juice and wearing two World Series championship rings.
With Judy's approval, Steve approached the owner's table and introduced himself. Before Steve knew it, Steinbrenner had invited him to sit down at his booth and have a cup of coffee. Normally, Steve doesn't care for coffee, but in this case he probably would have drank an entire pot.
Soon the conversation drifted to Steve's teenage son and die-hard Yankees' fan, Doug, and to whether Steve had obtained credentials to gain access to the team's spring training facility.
''He was being the ultimate gentleman,'' Steve said.
But the Falconer-Tampa connection was only getting started.
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When the coffee was gone and George and his driver, who sat nearby, had to leave, Steve had one request of his new friend.
''I know I'm not really supposed to do this,'' he told Steinbrenner, ''but would you sign a bat for my son?''
After a trip to his car, which was parked outside, Steve returned with the bat and Steinbrenner signed it: ''To Doug, a future Yankee, from The Boss, George Steinbrenner.''
''I was all excited,'' Steve said. ''I go back to the hotel and call my wife. I tell her, 'Guess who I met at the IHOP?' ''
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Wanting to thank Steinbrenner for his kindness, Steve called Legends Field, the Yankees spring training home, the next morning with the intent of leaving a thank you message for Steinbrenner.
''I knew I wasn't going to talk to him,'' Steve said.
To his surprise, though, the switchboard operator patched him through to the Yankees' executive offices where he spoke with Steinbrenner's secretary, Judith. Steve told her the details of his meeting with her boss the night before.
Judith assured Steve that she would pass along his thank you.
Noted Steve: ''I figured, 'OK, that's pretty much the end of it.' ''
But then a funny thing happened at the Tampa airport as he awaited his flight home.
''My phone rings,'' Steve said, ''and it says 'private number.' I thought it was my father.
''I swear to God, he says, 'Steve, it's George Steinbrenner. It was really nice to meet you last night, and thanks for calling. I really appreciate that stuff.' ''
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Once back at the Superior Bat Company on Jones & Gifford Avenue, Steve had a Yankee bat finished, complete with a blue handle and a white and blue pinstripe barrel.
''I put ''George, 'The Boss,' Steinbrenner 2006'' on it and sent it down to him with a note.''
A short time later, Steve received a letter with a return address that read: ''1 Steinbrenner Drive, Tampa, Fla.
The missive read, in part: ''That is quite a surprise bat that you sent me from Superior Bat. I have never seen a bat wearing pinstripes. Everyone in the office remarked on its uniqueness and the quality of the workmanship. I plan to hang it in the Yankee Board room where it can be seen most frequently.
''Thank you for thinking of me and I'll be keeping an eye out for 'future Yankee' Doug Trapani.''
The letter was signed: ''George M. Steinbrenner III.''
A friendship had been forged indeed.
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Steve and Doug have made trips to Florida each of the last three winters as the former tries to market his bats to major and minor league players. In 2007, they connected with Steinbrenner again - at the IHOP, naturally - and Doug was able to pose for a picture with the Yankees' owner. Also that year, Steinbrenner used his influence to get Steve access to the team's spring training facility. Since then, Chien Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlin and Phil Hughes are among the 25 players - from the Yankees major and minor league squads - who Steve calls clients.
''I mostly go after prospects,'' Steve said. ''They have a lot of money, but they don't know what they like yet. Then it's easier to put something in their hands and say, 'Here try this.' ''
Steve even offered one of his youth bats to Mariano Rivera, the father of a 14-year-old son. Appreciative of that effort, the sure-fire future Hall of Famer returned the favor earlier this year when he spent a few minutes teaching Doug how to throw his trademark cut fastball in the Yankees clubhouse.
''It was pretty neat,'' Doug said.
''I've come to find out that George really appreciates when you say thank you,'' Steve said.
That should be a life lesson for us all.
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If you have a sports memory you'd like to share, contact Scott Kindberg, the assistant sports editor at The Post-Journal at 487-1111, ext. 247 or e-mail him at skindberg@post-journal.com
