Yankees plan Friday tribute to George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard

Yankees plan Friday tribute to Steinbrenner

NEW YORK — The Yankees plan a Friday night tribute to George Steinbrenner when the team returns home for the first time since the owner’s death.

The team said Thursday there will be pregame tributes to Steinbrenner and longtime public address announcer Bob Sheppard before New York plays Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium. The ceremony will include a video tribute to Steinbrenner and a moment of silence in honor of both.

Wreaths will be placed in front of Steinbrenner’s statue outside the stadium and at Sheppard’s plaque in Monument Park.

The Boston Red Sox held a moment of silence at Fenway Park for Steinbrenner and Sheppard before Thursday night’s game against Texas.

The average asking price of tickets on the market for resale for Friday’s game at Yankee Stadium went up 85 percent to $173 since Steinbrenner’s death, according to FanSnap.com and availability decreased 60 percent. Since Tuesday’s game, the asking price of available Yankees tickets for the rest of the season has gone up 10 percent.

More ceremonies will take place at Old-Timers Day on Saturday, when there will be a video tribute to Sheppard and a special performance during the seventh-inning stretch. The day will celebrate the 60th anniversary of New York’s 1950 World Series title team. Among those expected are Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, Goose Gossage and Don Larsen.

Steinbrenner, the team’s owner since 1973, died Tuesday of a heart attack at age 80. Sheppard, the team’s public address announcer from 1951-07, died Sunday at age 99.

Plans were under way to hold Steinbrenner’s funeral on Saturday in Tampa, Fla., where the owner lived.

The Nederlander family, Broadway theater owners who are limited partners of Steinbrenner’s in the Yankees, planned to dim the lights at their theaters on Thursday night.

Sheppard’s funeral was held Thursday in Baldwin, N.Y.