When my son asked whether I was planning to root for the Yankees this year, I told him I haven’t made up my mind. I find that my old-time Yankee fervor is being mitigated by my annoyance at owner George Steinbrenner.

For me, the business of baseball overruled the thrill of our great American pastime in 2002. The deals, the humongous salaries for mediocre talent, and the rising ticket prices have zapped whatever zip I used to feel for the Bronx Bombers.

My children grew up watching their mother act like a lunatic during the playoffs, calling on her higher power to intervene on behalf of the Yankees. That the lunacy won results in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000 struck them as magical. In 2001, after the attacks of September 11, I announced that it was important for the Yankees to be in the World Series, but that I didn’t want them to win. Apparently, Yankees closer Mariano Rivera also felt the same reluctance to having a ticker-tape celebration in the area now known as ground zero. He blew the seventh game of the World Series.

I’ve always been a Yankee fan. I’ve stuck with them through all their lean years and rejoiced when they started winning again, but now something’s missing. It seems that every year the team is acquiring big buck stars that falter once they get to New York. While Joe Torre as manager may get the blame, the fault may lie in the fact that these megastars have trouble playing for a team they feel no allegiance to.

The last game I attended in the Bronx was the much-heralded debut of Hideki Irabu, for whom Mr. Steinbrenner paid more than $12 million. He won the game, but completely underwhelmed me with his lackluster performance. He lasted only two years as a Yank.

The Yankees have excellent scouts and a wonderful farm system, so why are they throwing away money when they should be developing the abundant talent there. Yankee captain Derek Jeter is a prime example of a player groomed within the system to become a superstar. How many Chien-Ming Wangs could Steinbrenner get for what the Yankees paid for a Randy Johnson?

Speaking of Mr. Wang: He’s doing a bang-up job as a starter, and he helped win the 2002 NY-Penn League championship for our very own minor league team — the Staten Island Yankees. Other Staten Island alumni now playing in the Bronx are Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera.

The Baby Bombers, as they are known, play at the beautiful Richmond County Bank Stadium overlooking New York Harbor, yet they have trouble filling seats. Rumor has it that the Yankees may be buying the team from the current owners, Stanley and Josh Getzler. There go the $11 box seats.

When I first met Stanley Getzler years ago, he told me that owning the minor league team was a dream come true. The former New York Stock Exchange member’s love of the game was evident throughout the time I spent at his office interviewing him, and it’s unfortunate that the Staten Island community has not supported its team as well as Brooklyn has supported the Cyclones, the Mets club that plays in Keyspan Park.

Hopefully, that will change, at least on August 4, when a very special game will be played as a fund-raiser for Immaculate Conception School. A fireman killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, Robert Curatolo, will be honored. His sister, Kathy Curatolo is the principal of ICS, an excellent inner-city elementary school in Stapleton. Come enjoy baseball at its purest.

The sport of baseball needs owners like Mr. Getzler, who sacrifice their personal wealth for love of the game rather than to exploit it for further gain. The folly of impassive team owners buying high-priced athletes to attract bigger crowds fails when the cost is then passed on to the fan. New Yorkers are the savviest sports spectators, and we appreciate good players more than their price tag. Unfortunately, the best fans are being priced out of the game. For that matter, we’re getting priced out of just about everything in this town.

If you’re not a baseball or sports fan, why should you care? Well, the creeping commercialism and lust for bigger but not better in everything that happens here is taking its toll on the very fabric of this city. It’s destroying neighborhoods. The old adage, “New York is a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live here,” should be modified to say, “…but I’ll never be able to afford living here.”

For more on this, tune in for my next column.