Steinbrenner won but with no class
By: The Yank | Published Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 11:45 AM | Updated Friday, September 9, 2011, 9:44 PM
George Steinbrenner is dead and Yankee fans should say a little prayer of thanks for all he did and they might want to throw in a few prayers asking one or two saints to intercede on his behalf and ask God to overlook many of the things he did.
I'm a Met fan and hate the
Yankees. It warms my heart when they lose or even just do something stupid.
Most Met fans, including me, enjoyed the fact that George turned the Yankees into a circus. Before Steinbrenner the Yankees were supposedly all about class and professionalism, but once Steinbrenner got involved all of that went out the window.
Oh, he made the right noises, but George wasn't a classy guy. He didn't hire classy guys. Unfortunately, he did hire winners.
I never understood why Yankee fans hated Steinbrenner. In 1973 he bought a team mired in mediocrity and in a few years turned them into champions. Sure, Steinbrenner's Yankees might not have been the same as (the mostly mythological) cool professionals of the past, but they won.
Unlike other baseball owners, Steinbrenner didn't fear free agency when it came in the mid 1970s. He threw himself - and his checkbook - into building a winning team. In 1976 he had his first pennant, but that wasn't enough and following the loss to
Cincinnati in the World Series Steinbrenner brought Reggie Jackson to New York to play for manager Billy Martin.
That year the Yankees romped home in the
American League and won the World Series. Reggie Jackson lived up to his big contract and his own bragging and delivered when it mattered. Across town the
Mets' cheapskate owners were dismantling the team and off-loaded the franchise player - Tom Seaver - because they were determinedly refusing to join baseball's new era.
It was the darkest of times as the Mets found a new long term home in last place. Meanwhile the Yankees won again despite the George & Reggie & Billy circus act.
However, George's interfering ways caught up with him in the 80s and the Yankees stopped winning. They weren't terrible, but they were never quite good enough. And what was more, the Mets were better. Those were the glory days. The Mets dominated New York, the Yankees played second fiddle and we Met fans were all able to fully enjoy Steinbrenner's show because we all knew the Mets' success was killing him.
Then came the 90s. Steinbrenner was exiled from active involvement in the Yankees for paying a gambler to try to get dirt on Dave Winfield, a big money signing who Steinbrenner derided as a bust. George became an obscure figure, unfortunately the Mets became an obscenity so Met fans couldn't enjoy Steinbrenner's discomfort as much as we would have otherwise.
Then something terrible happened. Steinbrenner returned, chastened. And he seemed to have learned his lesson. He still wanted to win, but he just wrote the checks and let his baseball people run the show. Just like that it was the 1950s all over again as the
Damn Yankees won and won and won even beat the Mets in the World Series. Oh yeah, and the team was full of classy professionals. Sickening.
I think it was around that time - the late 90s - that Yankee fans mellowed on Steinbrenner.
In recent years Steinbrenner has been less and less involved in running the Yankees, leaving most of the responsibilities to his son Hank. George managed one last hurrah, a final gesture towards what he'd been in the 70s, when he all but dismissed long-time manager Joe Torre after the 2007 season. He was old and frail then and Yankee fans mostly gave George a pass on that one as they were as annoyed as he was that the team had stopped winning (temporarily, unfortunately).
Steinbrenner made the Yankees interesting and winners and for that Yankee fans should be grateful to him. Most Met fans would have loved to have had to endure the 27 years Steinbrenner has given the Yankees.
George Steinbrenner is dead and Yankee fans should say a little prayer of thanks for all he did and they might want to throw in a few prayers asking one or two saints to intercede on his behalf and ask God to overlook many of the things he did.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.TheYank | Aug 16, 2010, 12:02 PM EDT
Monsoonman,
Some guys are actually better with limited resources. Maybe Finley's teams would have been completely dominant - and they weren't bad in the early 70s, but it's also possible that he would have squandered money if he'd had a ample supply.
You think Finley was better than Bill Veeck? Also, most of the owners in the distant past were great marketers, which explains why baseball took off. 150 years ago cricket was more popular in America.
TheYank | Aug 16, 2010, 12:00 PM EDT
longislander1940,
No. I never knew any of that. All I know about is how he ran the Yankees and, in truth, I know more about how he did that from '72-90 than anything that happened the past 10 years. I did say that he seemed to adopt a different management style after he got back from his banishment.
longislander1940 | Aug 13, 2010, 03:51 PM EDT
Did you every notice all the good Steinbrenner did for the NYPD/NYFD widows and other people who were sick and financially unable to pay a bill? Why dont you remember him that way.
Monsoonman | Aug 07, 2010, 10:42 AM EDT
...I add to the below: From Charley Finelys farm system and teams cam some of the Yankees greatest players.
Monsoonman | Jul 24, 2010, 11:02 AM EDT
I think Charley Finley was the most innovative and successful marketeer baseball has seen since its inception. From his farm system came some of baseballs greatest players. Can you imagine what Finley could have done if he had the resources of Steinbrenner?
TheYank | Jul 22, 2010, 01:28 PM EDT
DennisQ,
I agree. Too many people focused on the money he spent as if that was a guarantee of success. However, my own team had the third highest payroll in baseball last year and they didn't manage to win 50% of their games. Money combined with stupidity will still produce a loser.
Steinbrenner spent well. I doubt he was the driving force behind that hitting philosophy, but the buck stopped with him. He hired the people who made the Yankees winners and he deserves credit for that.
DennisQ | Jul 22, 2010, 04:22 AM EDT
The problem with Steinbrenner-bashing is that it gives him no credit for shrewdness. We're led to believe that baseball got smarter despite George Steinbrenner, but I doubt this is true. I looked for a connection between Steinbrenner and sabermetrics - the use of "better" statistics to determine what actually wins baseball games. No luck finding a connection, but I remember that the Yankees under George Steinbrenner used more effective strategies than other teams. For instance, Yankee hitters ran up the opposing starter's pitch count so they faced easier pitching in the late innings. Steinbrenner isn't associated with that, but it did happen while he was the Boss. Maybe he was just lucky that somebody under him knew what he was doing. But I have to ask - how often does that happen?
Liamkeyes | Jul 19, 2010, 04:05 PM EDT
I'm a Red Sox Fan. enough said!!!!
Monsoonman | Jul 19, 2010, 10:01 AM EDT
Just a matter of timing Yank, I knew you wrote from the heart and spoke your truth. You indeed are a classy guy, keep your articles coming.
TheYank | Jul 19, 2010, 06:23 AM EDT
Monsoonman,
Thanks for letting me know. I hadn't perceived that comment as being so negative. I've known a few guys who have taken pride in being gruff, unclassy businessmen. I guess I kinda figured Steinbrenner was like them.
I still can't get over how precious some of you guys are about Steinbrenner's memory, etc. Yes, I wrote what I wrote shortly after he died, but I wasn't the only one. I read many and saw literally hundreds of summaries of Steinbrenner's Yankee record in the newspapers. I didn't read a single one that I thought glossed over his career.
Steinbrenner died of natural causes at 80 years of age. He was very much a public figure. I see nothing wrong with discussing his public life in such circumstances. I don't live in America, but I would bet that if was in an office in NYC that the water cooler discussions would have been about Steinbrenner and very few would have demurred from giving their own opinion on his time with the Yankees simply because the man had only just died.
Monsoonman | Jul 17, 2010, 07:11 PM EDT
Yank, stop yanking our chain with a statement like: "but George wasn't a classy guy. He didn't hire classy guys"...and then go on with "I don't know what I said that was so negative"...Most let a guys corpse get cold before they start bashing him. I wonder if a corpseman could have saved George? Mr. president do you know?
TheYank | Jul 14, 2010, 04:14 PM EDT
Gosh, I wish I knew what I'd said that was so negative. I basically said that Yankee fans should be grateful for the way Steinbrenner ran the team. Oh, and that he made the Yankees a circus act in the 70s/80s. I said nothing else about him. I didn't talk about him outside of his role as Owner/manager of the NY Yankees. I even glossed over the whole Winfield thing, which was pretty ugly and uncharitable.
tmw1250 | Jul 14, 2010, 03:45 PM EDT
Typical Met fan. I agree with Rebelforce completly. If you only knew how much the Boss gave to charties that he kept out of the news you would change your simple mind. Keep your stupid opinions to yoursef
McNamara31 | Jul 14, 2010, 12:06 PM EDT
I'm with you Rebelforce
wmurphypr | Jul 13, 2010, 10:53 PM EDT
I agree with the writer. Steinbrunner was a no-class rich guy who contributed to the inflated payrolls and built a team of individual stars. There are many no-class owners in professional sports but George topped them all
Kevin325 | Jul 13, 2010, 03:14 PM EDT
Being a Red Sox fan, I never cared for the Yankees. However, Steinbrenner was still human like the rest of us. As far as having no class, Yankee fans don't care about that. Years from now, nobody is going to remember about class. All that will be remembered are the victories. One last thing, look at it this way Yank, at least you aren't a Cubs fan.
TheYank | Jul 13, 2010, 02:01 PM EDT
First of all, I don't buy into that. Steinbrenner was a public figure and I'm talking about his public life. I see nothing wrong with that. Secondly, I don't think I bad-mouthed him. Did you read it?
Rebelforce | Jul 13, 2010, 12:31 PM EDT
No class is writing an article badmouthing someone who just die before the body is even cold. Couldn't this have waited atleast until the day after the funeral?