Baseball

A New York state official has asked Commissioner Fay Vincent to allow George Steinbrenner to return as managing general partner of the New York Yankees because he believes Steinbrenner will sign a lease to keep the team in the Bronx.

“We believe that only Steinbrenner can sign a new lease--and will,” Vincent Tese, Urban Development Corp. commissioner, told the New York Daily News. “We regard him as a friend of New York.”

Tese is Gov. Mario Cuomo’s chief economic adviser.