July 13, 2010

Steinbrenner Passes

The Associated Press reports George Steinbrenner died this morning. TMZ sends the official word:

A rep for the Steinbrenner family has released a statement saying, “It is with profound sadness that the family of George M. Steinbrenner III announces his passing. He passed away this morning in Tampa, Fla., at age 80.”

The rep adds, “Funeral arrangements will be private. There will be an additional public service with details to be announced at a later date.”

My thoughts go out to his family, friends, and the Yankees community.

I grew up a Yankees fan, before George took over. As someone who remembers the Yankees before the boss, I’ll say that George was a bastard, but he was our bastard. He restored a franchise laid low by poor management and changing rules on signing amateur players to a championship team again. As a fan at the time, I was happy to see that. He used the wealth of the Yankees to leverage free agency and won consecutive World Series trophies in the 1970s. He was a tough driving boss. He did not believe in vacations or time off. More than anything, he wanted to win, and constantly pushed the team to do so.

It should be noted, however, that the two great eras of the Steinbrenner years, the late 1970s and last 1990s came about due to George’s evil side. He was suspended from taking part in day to day operations after the 1974 seasons due to illegal contributions to Richard Nixon. That allowed Gabe Paul to put together a team that would win the pennant in 1976 without interference. Steinbrenner was again suspended in 1990, and would not control the team again until 1993. By that time, the front office had laid the foundation for the great teams of the late 1990s.

In between, Steinbrenner pursued over the hill or over rated free agents. The Yankees had some good teams in the 1980s, with players like Winfield, Henderson and Mattingly, but they never seemed to acquire the complementary players to win. By the end of that decade, and into the early 1990s, the team was a joke. In fact, part of my becoming a fan of the game instead of a fan of the Yankees was the poor way the franchise was handled in the 1980s.

George did seem to mellow a bit after returning from the 1990 suspension, and while we was bombastic and pushed his teams, he made fewer stupid moves, and the team won. I wish more owners were as committed to winning as George was.

I saw Steinbrenner speak at Harvard Business school in January, 1979. My friend Jim Storer and I walked in very cold temperatures across the Charles to hear him speak and see the highlight film of the 1978 World Series. Steinbrenner surprised me by talking to the business school students about philanthropy. As people who were going to make a lot of money, they needed to give back to the community. George told how he would see a story in newspaper about a child who could not afford surgery, and then send the family a check to cover their expenses. As much as Steinbrenner craved publicity, these acts of kindness were kept under the radar. So while we tend to think of his as the Darth Vader of the evil empire, he did have a soft side that he kept out of view of the public.

I’ll miss him warts and all. He wanted to win more than anything, and his statements were always good for a blog post. While the way he want about that did not endear him to many, that attribute brought championships to Yankees fans, and turned the franchise back into the greatest in the game.

1 thought on “Steinbrenner Passes

  1. Ed

    This was an excellent appraisal. Steinbrenner definitely had a good side and an evil side, his peaks and valleys were in higher relief than those of most people. It was probably fortunate that his energies were channelled mostly into professional sports.

    Weirdly, I’ve become more interested in Steinbrenner as a businessman. How responsible was he for the bankruptcy of his shipping company? My impression is that the American shipbuilding industry was doomed and what the Steinbrenners eventually did, channel their family fortune into entertainment instead, mirrors what has been happening with the U.S. economy as a whole.

    Also, why haven’t more owners tried to emulate the high costs/ high revenue of the Yankees? Apparently S & P just disclosed that the Yankees’ revenue is approaching $600 million a year, with a payroll of somewhere over $200 million (not sure if this is just counting the players). But the typical model of most owners has been low cost/ low revenue. Maybe if more owners were willing to spend money, the Yankees would be less successful.

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