‘Red Alert! Boss in the House’- Yankees Security Guard Once Recalled Hilarious Tale That Showcases the Fear Instilled by Legendary Former Owner George Steinbrenner

There have been several funny stories related to teams in baseball. In the same vein, a hilarious incident once happened for the New York Yankees happened, where the owner, George Steinbrenner, and the rest of the team were involved. A few years ago, former batboy of the New York Yankees, Luis Castillo, released his memoir, “Clubhouse Confidential.” In the memoir, he revealed some of the secrets or bizarre habits of the players. But he also revealed an unforgettable funny tale.

This was a story of a love-hate relationship between the owner and the rest of the team. No matter what anyone was doing in the Yankees’ clubhouse, as soon as they heard “Red Alert,” they would start working.

Who was the ‘Boss’ in the New York Yankees clubhouse?

The system “Red Alert” started working as soon as George Steinbrenner’s car got in the view of the manager of stadium operations, Rob Gomez. Before Gomez even smiled or waved toward George, he would have punched the code for the security officer on duty on his walkie-talkie. 

Then, Gomez relayed a message to Craig Foley (the security guard at that time) and told him, “Red alert. Boss in the house.”

Here Steinbrenner would enter the elevator, and there, Foley would spread the news, “Red Alert.” 

The alert would always spread like wildfire in the clubhouse, and no matter what they were doing before, the manager, players, and coaches started doing some work. 

When the Boss used to open the door of the clubhouse. He saw everybody doing their jobs, he had a big smile on his face. 

Read More: ‘More Than Just an Owner to Me’– When NY Yankees Stars Derek Jeter and Alex ‘A–Rod’ Rodriguez Paid Tribute to ‘Father Figure’ George Steinbrenner After His Demise

The New York Yankees team had this instilled fear of the Boss, where they did not want to make the man pissed off in any way.

The team even pulled on a prank on ‘The Boss’

Just before the Yankees match against the Mets in World Series 2000, Fox Network was setting up wires and microphones for an interview in the Met’s visiting clubhouse, where the Yankees were staying. Then the news team dealt with all the wires and everything by covering the wires with black tape. 

Then, former pitcher of the New York Yankees, David Cone, happened to be crossing the room after the seventh inning of the game. And with a mischievous idea in his mind, he started saying to himself, “Oh, my, my, my.” To this Steinbrenner approached him and the conversation went ahead like this, 

GS- “What’s the matter?”

DC- “Can you believe this? Can you believe they’d do something like this — ”

GS- “Like what?”

DC- “Don’t you see it? They taped a microphone under there.”

GS- “Who? Who taped a microphone?”

DC- “The Mets.”

GS- “Are you ser–”

DC- “They’ve got the room bugged.”

GS- “Holy cr*p!”

And that was pretty much enough to make George’s face red. Immediately he started shouting for someone to get him a pair of scissors. He wanted to cut the wires, and Cone was enjoying every moment of the prank he managed to pull off.