George Steinbrenner turns 74 on the Fourth of July. Renowned for his vocal, public style of leadership, Steinbrenner, now in his 32nd year of ownership of the New York Yankees, has cut back on his availability to the media in recent years. The Boss recently sat, however, for two lengthy, far-ranging interviews with me, during which it became apparent that reminders of his mortality have begun to resonate within him. The result was a portrait of the Yankees patriarch that appears in this week's issue of Sports Illustrated.   What follows are some excerpts from those interviews, in which Steinbrenner gave his take on a variety of subjects, including Joe Torre , the Red Sox, steroids, Andy Pettitte , Pete Rose , Fay Vincent , Donald Trump , whether The Boss himself belongs in the Hall of Fame ... and the one thing that makes him happy.

On his improved relationship with Torre: "I feel much better about it. I never was really anti-Joe. That's been blown way out of shape by certain people. I think you would find my displeasure was with the coaching staff. [GM Brian ] Cashman can speak to this as well as anybody because he urged me to get rid of certain people. I refused because I knew that those people were important to Joe and Joe put a lot of faith in their capability. I'm just not going to dwell on that."

On demanding all potential player acquisitions come across his desk: "They all do. I try not to interfere as much as I used to. I wanted the first baseman from over in Tampa [ Travis Lee ]. I liked him for defense. He's as good a defensive player at first as I ever saw. The other guy I wanted was Gordon, Tommy Gordon , because I saw what he did to me. Hardest slider I've ever seen. Good kid.