The Boss

Yesterday, Major League Baseball officially approved the shift of power in the Yankee organization from George M. Steinbrenner III to his 40 year old son, Hal. It is a weird feeling. My whole life, The Boss has dominated the New York baseball landscape like no player, manager, or General Manager has. Now, he is gone. In reality, he has been gone for quite some time. He has been fading from the public eye the last few years because of declining health. (It is believed to be Dementia) Even as he faded away and moved to the side, he would still throw out the occasional missive or call a columnist and blast the manager or call out a player. In full disclosure, I am a Mets fan. I hate the Yankees with all of my heart and soul. George Steinbrenner is a part of that. And trust me I am not about to write a glowing retrospective on his life. He was mean, brash, greedy, petty, insecure, and abrasive. He was also a criminal. But he was a winner as well. He was someone who cared more about winning than the bottom line. Not that he didn’t make money, but he always put his money where is mouth was. He is the type of guy you hate if he is not your guy. He is the type of guy you love if he is your guy. He was a walking contradiction. A man who preached class and the “Yankee way” who conducted himself in a manner completely opposite of his preachings.

First, let me talk about the winning. In his time running the Yankees (1972-2007) they won 6 World Championships. They played in 10 World Series. They were in the postseason 18 times. 18 times in 35 years is pretty impressive. I had to live through most of that. He didn’t buy a winning franchise either. He brought the Yankees for $10 million when they were a laughingstock. He spent money. He hired the right guys. He fired the right guys. He hired the wrong guys. He fired the wrong guys. For every Thurman Munson and Ron Guidrey, he paid for a Reggie Jackson or Catfish Hunter. He thrived on controversy. He loved the spotlight. He was the type of person who felt his team should go 162-0. He never accepted less than perfection. It is because of this that he sent his team into one downward spiral and one mini-downward spiral.

One of my first baseball related memories was a bumper sticker. I used to play at my cousin’s house a lot when I was little. His neighbor had a bumper sticker that said “Billy’s Back!” with the Yankees baseball logo next to it. As my mind tried to wrap around such a concept (I was able to read when I was three, comprehension followed a little bit later) I was intrigued by what it meant. I asked and was told about Billy Martin. George Steinbrenner’s love/hate relationship with Billy Martin consumed them both and would cause the franchise turmoil for most of the 80’s. In reality, if Billy Martin didn’t die in a car accident, it may have consumed the franchise through the 90’s as well. The Boss loved to fire managers at will. He felt that they were always at fault for the team’s issues. He paid or overpaid for his players and he demanded the manager get the most out of them. He had some great managers over the years. Billy Martin, Dick Howser, Lou Pinella, Buck Showalter and Joe Torre. He also had Stump Merrill, but my point is he always got good guys but treated them like shit. He had Yogi Berra manage his team. He promised not to fire him during the season, but wound up firing him 16 games into the 1985 season. Yogi would not go back to the stadium for 15 years until The Boss publicly apologized.

George involved himself in some shady things as well. In the 70’s he had some shady dealings with Richard Nixon that involved campaign contributions. It earned him a 15 month ban from baseball after he was convicted of making the illegal contributions and of felony obstruction charges. Then in my favorite moment of douchebaggery, he hired a guy named Howie Spira, a low level bookie, to find dirt on Dave Winfield (his own player) and his charitable organization. Why would someone want to ruin his own player? What drives him to that? Winfield had gotten hurt and was not productive and he let his hate consume him. That hate got him tossed out of baseball for 2 years. That one event formed the Yankees as we know them today.

During the 1980’s, George paid lots of money for mediocre players. Andy Hawkins, Dave Lapoint, Steve Balboni, Ken Griffey Sr. etc. etc. His most famous was Ed Whitson, who was petrified of New York and bombed in epic fashion. The Ed Whitson signing still reverberates in New York because every time a talented player talks of his fear of New York, both teams shy away from him because they don’t want the same problems that Whitson caused. Hell this offseason, Jake Peavy expressed his disinterest in being here and everyone understood. In The Boss’s effort to win he also traded away top minor league talent for crap. Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps. This franchise traded away Doug Drabek and Fred McGriff. All because George wanted to win now. With George out of the picture, Stick Michael, the GM, implemented his plan. He kept Bernie WIlliams, who was killed in the Yankee Locker room by Mel Hall of all people, for being soft. Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera were developed. The Paul O’Neill trade happened. By the time George came back, a team was put in place that would win George four championships in a very un-George like way. With homegrown talent and supplemental parts. Not big splash stars.

The final real George salvo for the 20th century came when he fired Buck Showalter after losing to the Mariners in the 1995 playoffs. He brought in Joe Torre. The Yankees started winning championships. Torre was perfect for George. An easy going guy, that never let his team deal with the madness of the Boss. The winning kept Torre’s job safe. George didn’t know what to do. So instead of messing with his team. He faded back, while firing missives through his publicist and set his sights on building his Yankee Empire. He wanted a new Stadium ever since he got the old one renovated in the 70’s. For years, he put down the South Bronx, talked about it being unsafe and not worthy of his Yankees. He wanted Manhattan. He threatened Jersey. He needed luxury boxes. But something funny happened on the way to tearing down the community in which his team lived. The more they won, the more the people showed up. The Yankees became THE THING to see in town. He changed gears. He worked to make the South Bronx safe. If you go now, you can’t go 10 feet without seeing a cop on game days. He made Yankee Stadium the place to be. He built up the Yankee Tradition. He built up the hallowed nature of the Stadium. He built up the mystique. It didn’t hurt having a Championship team to promote. He made the Yankees into the Patriotic team. The World Series games with Challenger the Eagle swooping down after the National Anthem. Ronan Tynan inventing lyrics to God Bless America and signing during the 7th inning stretch. It was all very sickening and cool at the same time.

He revolutionized the ways teams can make revenues. When his deal with Cablevision ended he created YES. He then spent years fighting Cablevision until they finally carried the network. He made all sorts of advertising and merchanding deals. He was helped by the fact that any hat with a Yankee logo, regardless of hat color, was the thing to wear. Authentic Jerseys became acceptable everyday wear. The rise of sports in America to the money making machine it is now was helped by George’s vision and madness. The rise of baseball after the strike had a lot to do with George’s team winning and George’s thirst to make money guiding other owners to new heights. He laid out the game plan for the Mets and Red Sox to print money. Other teams are starting to follow suit.

The slide of the Yankees over the last decade has to do with George as well. He decided he wanted his trophies again. He wanted to sign the big free agents and make the splash. No more El Duques and Jimmy Keys. More Clemens and Mussinas and Giambis. He went and got A-Rod. He neglected Andy Pettitte. He made Bernie Williams come begging for a contract only after the Red Sox offered him a real deal. He turned his back on developing talent and just wanted the quick fix. The 2000s Yankees are a glorified 80’s team. In the 80’s some of those teams that didn’t make the playoffs would have with a Wild Card. He never understood the value of young players, especially young pitchers, in terms of performance and even in team ego. It is always more gratifying to develop Derek Jeter than trade for and sign A-Rod. He never understood that. His son Hank doesn’t either. Fortunately for Yankee fans, and unfortunately for me, he left Hal to run the show. Hal seems to be more pragmatic. Hank has George’s mouth but lacks his balls.

Here is how I feel about George M. Steinbrenner III. I hate him as an enemy. He hates my team. He wants to beat the piss out of my team. He made Yankee/Met series into an all out war. The Yankee players and Joe Torre never enjoyed the games because George made their lives a living hell if they lost. But my hatred of him is somewhat jealousy as well. I wish my team felt that way. I wish my owner felt that way. Fred Wilpon is a classy guy. But he lacks a lot of George’s positive attributes. He is patient to a fault. He is cautious with his money to a fault. I know Wilpon loves making money more than winning. I am not sure about George. He does both but there is this sense he would throw it all away to win. Maybe that is perception but it is a good perception to give your customers. I don’t know if I would want George Steinbrenner as my owner. There is a ton of negative to it. But I do respect what he has done. I do wish my ownership and my team showed his competitive fire. I do think he is a shitty person. Not an evil person but just not a likable guy. Not all the great ones are. I am not sure if George was great but he was definitely a presence. He is the most open and unique owner ever to show up on the sports scene. Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones are just watered down imitations. My feeling for him is so mixed between hatred and admiration. Respect and disgust. He was an enigma. He will be missed.