Empire Strikes Back

Even in minors, Yanks-Sox is a major battle

BY JONATHAN LEMIRE
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

The scorching Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is burning up some new turf in the minor leagues.

A Massachusetts Single-A team fired the first shot, and now the Staten Island Yankees are striking back.

The Lowell Spinners, the Red Sox affiliate in the New York-Penn League, offered last week to replace the uniforms of any Massachusetts youth team named the Yankees so the pint-sized players wouldn't be teased or booed at town parades.

"It's in good fun and we laughed, but we knew we had to retaliate," said Gary Parrone, assistant general manager of the Staten Island squad. "And, befitting the style of the Yankees, we wanted to do it with class."

So when the Spinners travel to Richmond County Bank Ballpark Aug. 4-6, they will be greeted with an array of Sox-slamming promotions.

First, any fan who gives up a Sox hat or shirt - later to be donated to a New England homeless shelter - will be given a free ticket. Any man getting a shave and haircut at the park in honor of formerly long-maned outfielder Johnny Damon, who abandoned Boston for the Bronx, also will get a free ducat.

Free tickets also will be offered to any Massachusetts Little League team that resists changing its name from the Yankees. And if any fan comes to all three Staten Island games, he will be given a talking Babe Ruth doll.

"The real rivalry is intense, but this is minor-league baseball. It's supposed to be fun," said Tim Bawmann, Spinners general manager, whose team has agreed to exchange the uniforms of 44 youth Yankee teams in the Bay State and - to stick it to its rivals - one in upstate New York.