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It's been a very sad week for the New York Yankees organization. First the Voice of God passes at 99 and then in an ironic way, takes the Yankee patriarch with him.
Needless to say George was no saint. He didn't always do the right thing or even the smart thing for that matter. But say what you will about the last lion of baseball, no one can ever take away the fact that he purchased a sinking stone of a baseball team from CBS in the 70's for $8 million and turned them into the billion dollar empire they are today.
The road from point A to point B would never be classified as "smooth sailing," but it sure was entertaining. And I think George understood that. At it's core, sports is nothing more than entertainment and George always wanted the Yankess to put on the best show possible.
Today, the world is a little less interesting.
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11 comments:
The self proclaimed "Boss" has been out of the spotlight for years, so his death is not surprising at all. I always thought he was a blowhard who acted impulsively like a 5 year old child. His dad built the family empire and he was just along for the ride.
I will give him credit for 3 things though:
1. Buying the Yankees at an incredible price (note: only after his bid failed to buy the Indians)
2. Realizing the income potential of starting up the Yes Network.
3. Making fun of himself as a parody on Seinfeld.
Overall I think baseball has been more entertaining because of him, but let's not substitute entertainment for success. The Yankees, during his tenure, were dead last in the major leagues in wins per dollar spent. That is the true metric of success, not World Series'. Without his meddling, the Yankees probably would have won twice as many world championships.
Regs do you buy your logic at Costco or something? A value pack of 24 retarted comments for the price of 1? Some things you really should start paying a premium for.
First of all, he wasn't a self-proclaimed anything. He WAS the Boss. It's not a clever pun, he owned the damn team. The media started to use it in news stories and managers also used to call him "Manager George."
Also, to say he was "along for the ride," is a gross understatment. The same as saying Donald Trump was just handed his wealth. Both of them came from successfull families but grew their fortunes exponentially to heights their fathers could never dream of.
And to word it that George "failed," to by the Indians is completely ascinine. History will tell that it's the Indians who truly "failed." George was a college athelete and loved sports so he naturally wanted to throw his hat into a pro team, and he was born in Ohio so why not Cleveland. The Indians deal was all but done. The night before the deal, team owner Vernon Stouffer made a druken call to his people and said he's "not selling the team to that asshole." Another great move by a Cleveland sports executive.
And don't worry we don't have to substitue entertainment for success because he had a plethora of both.
During his tenure the Yankees were #1 in winning percentage, pennants and World Series titles.
Your dollars to wins scenario is not only inane but also completely inapt.
It's like the saying "People who say, 'Money isn't everything,' probably don't have any." Just like a Brewers fan with zero championships to call his own, tries to say World Series wins are not the mark of success. Maybe if George was able to "meddle," with a team like the Brewers they'd actually have 1 ring.
But hey, that's great news for the Cubs and Indians, looks like all this time they've really been on top. High Five!!!
Let's check the facts. The Yankees won a ws in 1977 and 1978, then proceeded to not win another one until 1996. That is an 18 year drought in what can easily be categorized as the "wild wild west" of free agency. George did so many laughable things during this time that the fans cheered wildly when it was announced that he was banned from baseball for associating with known crooks.
The team was a complete joke. It was only after he quit meddling as much and let actual baseball people (Joe Torre) handle the team that the Yankees had their heyday. The counter arguement would be that "that is what a good boss does, delegate" but that was definately not his style. He wanted his hand in everything and only when he realized that he was completely incompetant did he take a step back.
You also don't have to compare everything to the Brewers. The way the baseball rules are set-up puts the Brewers at such a huge disadvantage, it is silly to compare. It is apples to oranges. I can't help that I was born and raised in Wisconsin.
I just tell it like it is. Steinbrenner did his best when he stayed out of the way, although he loved to take the credit. (several former players have made mention that he used to tell people that it was because of something he did, that caused the team to play better, even though it wasn't)
Sorry Regs but you do not tell it like it is, you overstate and paint with far too broad a brush.
I would never say Steinbrenner was near perfect or even in the same universe as perfect. But how come besides sports, in every other business in the world you would be looked at as crazy if you did not take a hands-on approach to your business? But when an owner does it in sports it's meddling. It's his money and he has every right to take part in what's going on.
No he didn't always make the right decision and sometimes he got crazy trying to put together the best team. But it was always in the context of winning.
It was that drive that turned the Yankees around from a 15-year drought when he took over the team in the late 70's. You think the 80
s Yankees were bad? The late 60's, early 70's Yankees make them look like an all-star team. George rescued the Yankess and returned them to glory with 3 straight pennants and 2 titles.
Also, the Yankees of the 80's were not the "joke," you and others like to remember them as. They went back to the series in '81 and lost to the Dodgers. They also finsihed in 2nd place in '85 and '86. The Yankees also had the highest winning percentage of all teams in the 1980's despite not winning a title. George can't play the games, only put the best possible team he can on the field, which he always did.
And yes New York was fed up with him at one point, I remember it very well. All of the hirings and firings of managers got out of hand, but ultimately it was the players that underperformed. And if you read the book you'll see that whole Winfield thing was blown way out of proportion and George did not deserve that second suspension.
And yes I do have to bring up that you're a Brewers fan because it's so laughable that you would not have wanted him as the owner of your team. And please quit with the "it's unfair," garbage. No one's buying that noise anymore. The Brewers have been around for how long? Longer than the Marlins, Rays and Rockies, all whom are at least competative and make it to the occacional World Series. It wasn't the city that gave the Yankees the advantage they have, it was George.
Across baseball you'll find pleanty of people that love him or hate him, or both. But nobody can deny that he wanted one thing every single year . . . to go 162-0and win the World Series. He was a pioneer and if anyone says they wouldn't wan't him for an owner, they are either nieve or just jealous.
I gave him 3 positives. However, none of them revolve around running a baseball team. Sure he wanted to win, but other than spend, he had no clue how to do it. My thinking that he is a joke has nothing to do with the fact that I am a brewers fan.
You can think he's a joke all you want. If you like being completely wrong, then to each his own. The facts say othewise.
If he had no idea what he was doing then I guess he was the luckiest man alive or had a guardian angel looking over him.
I'll take the realistic approach and look at him for what he was. An incredibly shrewd, determined and successful man who committed the sin of mixing emotions with business . . . a potent mixture of poison in just about every other business. However in sports, it's the fountain of youth.
Baseball owners and professional players in all sports owe a great deal to George Steinbrenner for what they have today.
When I think of Steinbrenner I think
Yankees
Sucessfull
Crazy
Entertaining
Full of himself
Daring( just realized I cant spell this word???)
Champion
Wish he owned my team
Billy Martin
Rudy fuck ass Guliani
Hall of Famer !
RIP
To illustrate how insignificant this event is, let's take a look at this blog. We have had numorous discussions about some ridiculous topics that routinely run into the 30's (comments). What do we get here? 2 people and a stoned Juan chimming in with some modern poetry.
That tells you all you need to know. Nobody cares about this guy.
Right nobody cares.
That's why for the first time in 20 years the New York newspapers put out afternoon editions for a sports topic.
Thats why there was a moment of silence at the All-Star game.
That's why for the last 2 days it has completely overshadowed LeBron on talk radio.
In fact, it seems like EVERYBODY cares Regs. Including you, since you were the first to post a comment. You may hate him, but you still cared.
And the reason this post will not go into the 30's is because you're the only one with a contrary opinion. Everyone else knows how important he was to the Yankees and sports as a business. There is not a logical argument to be made against that.
Regs, I texted my thoughts to Koko which he probably already knew how I felt bout 'Brenner.
Koko, here are the full thoughts which don't fit in a 160 character text.
I'm a Braves fan. I like much of the rest of baseball fans despise the Yankees. I hated 'Brenner & wished he would die forever.
When he died, I couldn't even bring myself to make a joke. That's when I realized I must actually respect the man for what he stood for as an owner (spending money to bring in the best talent & demanding World Series Championships.)
I like every other baseball fan wishes the owner of our favorite teams would do the same. Even though my Braves had a 14 year Playoff run, I wish the owner would have gone out & continually spent the necessary $ to bring in better players to achieve the ultimate goal, winning the World Series more often.
We all live and die with our teams, yet I don't think the owners see themselves in that way. The majority of owners could careless as long as the team is making money. We don't live & die about any other type of business or product but teams are something we believe in. I love the Coca-Cola brand but I'm not gonna die if they go away.
BTW, I laughed hysterically when the fans in Anaheim still booed the Yankoffs when the players were announced at the All Star Game though.
That's very honest of you Sean, I think that's the sentiment from most of the people who are in or follow baseball. He might have been the most difficult man to work for, but just about every fan would have loved to have him be the owner of their team.
And yeah I love when the Yanks get the most boos on the road, it just shows they are still the best. When the boos stop, it's time to be concerned.
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