Control of the New York Yankees was formally shifted to Hal Steinbrenner, son of famed former team boss George Steinbrenner, by MLB owners on Thursday, commissioner Bud Selig announced.

Owners approval of the move makes Hal the link between the club and league officials even though he serves as co-chairman of the team with older brother Hank, who controls baseball operations while Hal bosses business operations.

Their 78-year-old father, among the most famed US team owners, has gradually eased himself out of the day-to-day operations of the Yankees in recent years and his sons were installed into their current posts earlier this year.

The elder Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973 and transformed them into a success on the field and a billion-dollar company that owns a food concession firm and cable television network.

In Steinbrenner's turbulent tenure, the Yankees have won six World Series titles and 10 American League crowns even as he changed managers 20 times during his first 23 seasons as boss of the Bronx legends.

The Yankees will move into a new stadium next season, leaving behind one of the most legendary ballparks in American sport for a larger, more modern facility adjacent to the original Yankee Stadium.

Mussina retires

Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina, who won 270 games in an 18-year Major League Baseball career, announced his retirement on Thursday despite producing his first 20-win season this year.

The 39-year-old right-hander went 20-9 with a 3.37 earned-run average this past season and filed for free agency last month, but chose to end his career, the first 20-game winner to call it quits since Sandy Koufax in 1966.

(China Daily via AFP November 22, 2008)