FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – John Henry says he and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner have a great relationship. They might even make a good comedy team.

“I don’t want to equate him with Don Rickles,” the Red Sox owner said Saturday, “but if Don Rickles insults you, it’s funny. But I don’t mean that in a negative way.”

There didn’t seem to be much humor in their statements last Wednesday.

That’s when Steinbrenner told Henry to “forget the sour grapes” a few hours after Henry advocated a salary cap in the wake of the trade for Alex Rodriguez that put New York’s payroll at about $184.8 million.

Commissioner Bud Selig then told both owners to cool the rhetoric and they did – until Henry showed up for the first time at Boston’s spring training camp.

He said Saturday that his relationship with Steinbrenner is still “great” but that he didn’t regret the e-mail to reporters in which he called for the salary cap.

“When the commissioner called me to read me the (Steinbrenner) statement, I kept chuckling,” Henry said. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to be known as a good loser.”

He spent about a half hour Saturday signing autographs on baseballs, T-shirts and even a copy of The Financial Times newspaper. He posed for pictures, chatted with fans and tried halfheartedly to comply with Selig’s directive.

Henry and Steinbrenner were on the phone with Selig’s office at the same time last Wednesday, although it wasn’t a three-way conversation.

“I was hoping the three of us could get together. It would have been funny,” Henry said with a smile. “I would have been joking around. But, anyway, I’m not supposed to go down this road.”

He did say that he was mildly pained by Selig’s request.

“You only get so many moments where humor is really appropriate, and that was time for a humorous response,” Henry said.

He obeyed that request for a while Saturday and talked about how he was excited to be at the first official workout for pitchers and catchers.

“I was just looking through this roster. It’s extraordinary,” Henry said. “You have to be excited.”

But the conversation kept returning to Steinbrenner, who has known Henry for a long time. Henry had a small stake in the Yankees that he didn’t dispose of until after he became principal owner of the Red Sox before the 2002 season.

He started the verbal sparring early Wednesday morning with his salary cap proposal.

“There is really no other fair way to deal with a team that has gone so insanely far beyond the resources of all the other teams,” Henry said then.

It was a position he didn’t find particularly noteworthy.

“I thought I was stating the obvious,” he said Saturday.

But he “absolutely” expected Steinbrenner to respond.

“Everything I’ve seen all the years I was a partner, I’ve seen bellowing and this isn’t out of character,” Henry said.

But it was Henry whose statement opened the door for Steinbrenner’s response.

“We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction,” Steinbrenner said Wednesday. “It is time to get on with life and forget the sour grapes.”

While the attack and counterattack got fans talking, Henry didn’t think it intensified the fierce rivalry between the AL East foes. He said he and Steinbrenner talk with each other but haven’t done so since the statements came out.

The first exhibition game between the Yankees and Red Sox is scheduled for March 7 in Fort Myers. Their opening regular-season series will be four games at Fenway Park from April 16 to 19.

Might the two owners dine together if both are present?

“Absolutely,” Henry said. “There’s never been any animosity between George and I. I don’t take anything he said personally. It’s something he does.”

Notes: RHP Ramiro Mendoza is expected to be sidelined for at least a week with an abdominal strain. Manager Terry Francona said he was hurt while throwing a few days earlier. … RHP Reynaldo Garcia, who played for Texas last year, also missed the workout because of a visa problem. … Curt Schilling left the Red Sox complex wearing a replica Babe Ruth jersey, with the number 3, from the 1919 season. That was one year after Ruth helped Boston win its last World Series and one year before he was traded to the Yankees. Earlier in the week, Schilling wore replica jerseys of Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins and Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears.

AP-ES-02-21-04 1905EST