Even the Bard Knew What the Boss Was Like

With volumes already written on the rise and fall of New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner, it came as no surprise that someone finally invoked the Bard.

Ronald Blum of the Associated Press went to Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” for the crowning blow:

“Like a dull actor now,

“I have forgot my part, and I am out,

“Even to a full disgrace. Best of my flesh,

“Forgive my tyranny.”

Add Steinbrenner: Mark B. Cohn, the attorney representing the two Yankee limited partners who filed suit in an 11th-hour attempt to allow Steinbrenner the option of staying on as the team’s managing general partner, called two expert witnesses to explain Steinbrenner’s importance to the team.

One of them, John Minco, a marketing expert, testified about Steinbrenner’s value as a high-profile owner.

Said Minco: “I don’t know another owner who can get Nelson Mandela wearing a Yankees jacket and saying, ‘Tonight I am a Yankee.’ ”

Trivia time: Name the only two Japanese-Americans to play in the major leagues.

Easy question: Earlier this season, Oakland Athletic pitcher Dave Stewart called Jack McDowell of the Chicago White Sox “nothing more than a triple-A pitcher.”

Monday, McDowell beat the A’s, 11-1. Reminded of his remark, Stewart asked: “How long ago was that? Two months? How long do you carry a grudge?”

That should teach him: Tom Jackson of the Sacramento Bee, covering Monday’s NFL exhibition game between San Francisco and Denver, reported that 49er offensive tackle Bruce Collie left the game in the middle of the third quarter with a mild concussion.

Wrote Jackson: “In a game of assorted revenge motives, the Broncos could almost call their score with Collie even. It was Collie, Broncos linebacker Karl Mecklenburg charges, who put him out of Super Bowl XXIV with a vicious leg whip.”

Hearing echoes: John Huarte, who won the 1964 Heisman Trophy as a quarterback at Notre Dame, owns a successful tile company and helps out as the offensive coach for his son Mark’s team at Marcos de Ninza High School in Tempe, Ariz.

Mark said that during practices, his teammates are more than aware of Huarte’s accomplishments. “They’re thinking, ‘God, I’m having a Heisman Trophy winner throwing me a pass,’ ” he said. “They’re so in awe that they end up dropping it.”

Umbrella offense: There’ll always be an England, continued:

Remember the British boxer’s mother who climbed into the ring and hammered her son’s opponent with the heel of her shoe?

Recently, Juliet Woodhouse was watching her son in a rugby match between teams from North Walsham and Fakenham. When a melee broke out, Woodhouse, 37, joined the action and hit a player with her umbrella, but then was knocked down.

Reuters reported that a court in Norwich gave Woodhouse’s son Chris, 22, a suspended six-week jail term for punching and breaking the jaw of the player who struck his mum.

Trivia answer: Atlee Hammaker and Lenn Sakata.

Quotebook: New York Yankee first baseman Kevin Maas, a 25-year-old rookie, on his record-breaking home run pace: “I wish I was a little younger. It’s not as if I’m 20 or 21.”