Mainers give Steinbrenner a tug

PORTLAND, Maine – Boatbuilders at the Washburn & Doughty yard in East Boothbay may root for the Boston Red Sox, but business is business.

So when it came to building a tugboat for New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Maine’s baseball loyalties were set aside.

Washburn & Doughty designed and built the 5,000-horsepower state-of-the-art tug, The Independent, for Marine Towing of Tampa, Fla., a tugboat firm owned by Steinbrenner and his family.

The boat was christened this week by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, a native of Waterville, and carried a price tag of $5 million – $20 million less than the Yankees will pay Alex Rodriguez in an average year.

Bruce Washburn, vice president of Washburn & Doughty, acknowledges that Maine, as part of Red Sox Nation, despises the Yankees and anything linked to its high-profile owner.

But not only is a Maine shipyard working for Steinbrenner, the team owner’s family shipped a box of Yankees caps to East Boothbay.

“I got takers for all of them,” Washburn said. “The whole box they brought up is gone.”

Does this mean that the tentacles of what Red Sox President Larry Lucchino dubbed the Evil Empire now extend Down East?

Not quite, Washburn said.

His 27-year-old company is one of the prime builders of docking tugs in the country, so it was a no-brainer, even for Steinbrenner, to buy the boat made in Boothbay.

“We have probably run across some characters we wouldn’t build for, but we’re not prejudiced by their sports affiliations,” Washburn said.

If the Red Sox want a boat, Washburn will be happy to build it.

Until then, he’ll be rooting for the Sox – his eyes shaded by a Yankees cap.