Chicago ? I agree with George Steinbrenner, oh, once out of every 1,000 times he opens his trap.

The principal owner of the New York Yankees is known to say outrageous things. It would not shock me a bit if Steinbrenner were to express the opinion that a dog goes “moo” and that a cow goes “bow wow.”

Therefore, it amazes me that when it comes to this Rookie of the Year baseball business, I side with Steinbrenner — heaven help me — 100 percent.

Hideki Matsui of the Yankees just got jobbed out of the American League’s award by a couple of sports writers — one from Minnesota and the other from Massachusetts — who took it upon themselves to flout the rules.

The fact they preferred a different player is of no consequence.

It is the way they intentionally passed Matsui that swayed the outcome and showed contempt.

In this election, a player gets a certain number of points per vote for a first-place selection, so many for second place, etc.

One of the writers in question had a perfect right to make Angel Berroa of the Kansas City Royals his first choice. (Berroa ended up winning the award 88-84 over Matsui.) The other had a right to make Rocco Baldelli of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays his first choice.

But by leaving Matsui off of their ballots entirely, merely because they objected to the Japanese outfielder’s right to be on it, these men threw the whole contest out of whack.

It would be OK if either wished to contend Matsui’s play was unworthy. But this was not the case. The writers stipulated they did not believe Matsui, as a veteran of several pro seasons in Japan, deserved to be a part of this election in America at all.

What they did was discriminatory. They blackballed a man because they felt like it. He was eligible, but on their own they decreed that he was not.

Steinbrenner had a right to be livid. The award, as he said, bears the name of Jackie Robinson, a man who came late to the major leagues for reasons beyond his control. Robinson played ball for a paycheck elsewhere, just as the Japanese players did.

It shouldn’t matter a bit that no “barrier” kept Matsui from coming to America from the start. These awards go to the rookies of the year of the major leagues. This was Matsui’s first year in the major leagues.

“This year’s voting farce,” Steinbrenner said, “where the appropriate qualifications for the award were blatantly ignored, clearly demonstrates unfairness to first-year players from Japan. And that must be stopped.”

What these men did is unjust. Because of a personal bias, a young man who doesn’t leave his native land fast enough to suit American sports writers is just out of luck. Sorry, son. You want to be one of us, get over here sooner.

It is prejudicial and it is preposterous. Some athletes from foreign lands are not even seen or signed by an American scout until their mid-20s.

One of the dissenters was quoted in the New York Times as saying Robinson “faced much more difficult circumstances as a rookie … than Matsui did going from being a multimillion-dollar star in one major league to being a multimillion-dollar star in another major league.”

Oh? This is about money, then, is it? I guess this means that from now on, Steinbrenner should only go after poor Japanese players.

Matsui faced all kinds of pressures. The pressure to play in New York. What did he do? He helped his team win the pennant, that’s what. In his first season.