Baseball

The New York Yankees were not left with a shortfall because George Steinbrenner and his partners pocketed a reported $100 million in 1988 from a cable-TV contract, a spokesman said.

New York Newsday reported that a document on file with the New York secretary of state shows the club borrowed against its November, 1988, contract with Madison Square Garden Productions. The MSG deal is worth an estimated $486 million over 12 years.

The newspaper said Steinbrenner received at least $55 million, and the remainder was distributed among his 17 partners, including his wife, Joan.

“There is nothing wrong with a club borrowing money, hypothetically,” baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent said. “Let’s just say a club borrowed money and made distributions to its partners or shareholders, there is nothing wrong with that.”