“Hal is more reserved than George,” said Howard Rubenstein, the longtime family and Yankees spokesman. “Hank is really a pretty accurate reflection. When I first saw the pictures in the paper, I had to do a double take.”

Like his father, Hank Steinbrenner will defend the Yankees against other teams envious of their winning and wealth. He was angered after the release of the Mitchell Report, which implicated 20 present and former Yankees in the use of steroids and human growth hormone. Some questioned whether the Yankees’ run of four World Series titles in five years from 1996-2000 was drug-fueled.

“Don’t make any mistake about it: Our team in the late 90s beat everybody, and we beat everybody because we were that much better than everybody,” he said. “And they had just as many players doing stuff — all the teams. I guarantee you go through every team in baseball, and they all have the same basic percentage of players doing stuff. They just weren’t as good as us. You think the Red Sox didn’t have players doing stuff back then? Give me a ... break. They just weren’t as good as us, and neither was anybody else.”

Although his father was an assistant college football coach, Steinbrenner’s background is more soccer — he played at Central Methodist and coached at Ocala Vanguard High.

In the early 1990s, the Yankees were approached to buy a 33 percent interest in England’s Tottenham Hotspur for about $32 million. New York passed, a decision Hank regrets.

He’d be interested in purchasing Tottenham or maybe Nottingham Forest — for the right price. He has no desire to add an NFL, NBA or NHL team to the Steinbrenner family holdings.

“The only thing would be a soccer team, a major soccer team in Europe, probably at this point preferably in the Premier League. That’s always a possibility for me,” he said. “We’ll just have to see what happens.”

Soccer passion aside, Steinbrenner admits there’s a lot of his father in him. He went to Culver Military Academy in Indiana, a school four generations of Steinbrenners have attended. He loved history, just as his father and grandfather did, thought growing up that he’d want to be a senator, and mentions his admiration for Jefferson, Lincoln and Kennedy.

“If I didn’t get my schoolwork done I’d be in study hall, but I’d be reading Churchill’s memoirs or I’d be reading the racing form,” he said. “You know — sneaking.”

He was 15 when his father led a group that bought the Yankees from CBS in 1973 for a net price of $8.7 million. Now, it’s a business that took in $415 million last year.

His title is senior vice president of the Yankees, while brother Hal is chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises, the holding company for the franchise and its approximately 35 percent stake in the YES Network. The duo will wind up as the team’s two general partners, according to Hank Steinbrenner, who is leaving the titles up to the lawyers.

Hot Stove report Team needs, player tracker, more

In the current structure, team president Randy Levine and chief operating officer Lonn Trost report to the brothers, with frequent conference calls. When player decisions are involved, Cashman joins in. George Steinbrenner is the elder counselor.

“Their strengths complement each other, and the philosophy and commitment that their father established and continues to advocate has not changed,” Levine said. “No three people are identical. They all have their individual traits and qualities. George Steinbrenner is a historical figure, and I think with a little more experience, they can be everything their dad is.”

Rubenstein has noticed a difference in the way decisions have been made. For years, Rubenstein would have to talk George Steinbrenner out of impetuous decisions and statements. The brothers don’t adhere to their father’s speak first, then think method.

“George was George. There was only King George,” Rubenstein said. “Now there’s a lot of discussion back and forth. I see there’s a real consensus there.”

After days of deliberation last October, the group decided to offer Torre a contract to return for a 13th season as manager — with a paycut. When Torre rejected it, terming it “an insult,” Hank Steinbrenner fired back and told the New York Post: “Where was Joe’s career in ’95 when my dad hired him?”

“I just, you know, lost my cool and probably said some things I shouldn’t have said. But they were valid points. It’s reality. But the bottom line is it was stupid,” he said, looking back. “I don’t want to criticize Joe. He was obviously an extremely effective manager for us. He was perfect for that team at that time.”

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