He was a bastard, but he was OUR bastard
So, George Steinbrenner, after being in declining health for several years and handing control of the Yankees over to his sons, passed away today at the age of 80. It's hard to describe the welter of emotions the news set off, because he was so many things: tyrant, fan, loudmouth, philanthropist, father figure, big brother, friend, enemy, lifeline, and ruler of the Yankee Empire. He was The Boss, a name given in scorn and adopted in pride.
Bill Gallo used to draw him as General von Steingrabber, in a full Prussian military uniform with epaulets on his shoulders and a spiked helmet on his head. He'd watch the Yankees with a stein of beer in one hand on a TV set into a giant foaming beer barrel, and in a mock-German accent deliver pronouncements on the state of the Yankees, baseball, and the world. That's why I usually referred to him as "the General" instead of "the Boss."
The General persona was actually pretty appropriate, as he was a military man early in life and tried to bring a military precision to Yankeedom, though he often failed because of his own bombastic personality. He could be hell on his employees. Bob Watson walked away from the Yankee GM job because he decided he wanted to sleep nights. Brian Cashman is six years older than Theo Epstein. He looks like he's thirty years older. But he valued loyalty, and hard as this may be to believe, he showed it to members of the Yankee family, over and over and over again.
He kept bringing Billy back in part to help him-in the mid to late 1980s, Billy Martin was on a crash course with death, and George hoped the responsibility of running the Yankees would save him. Didn't work. He gave Doc and Darryl chance after chance because they were New York guys and he wanted to help them. And if you believe Darryl Strawberry. he did. If you were a Yankee, you got a hand from the Boss once your career was over, to guide you on the next step, keep you in the game, or just make sure you got a check every week.
I used to hate him when I was teen in the '80s and he'd go out and blow money and prospects on the likes of Steve Trout or Andy Hawkins and say the Yankees were about to win again. And of course, he was banned from baseball twice, the second time at the end of the '80s, when the team had reached rock bottom and was basically a joke. We cheered so loudly when he was gone, because we thought it meant the bad times were over.
But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and oddly enough, we cheered loudly when he came back, even if he did pose as Napoleon on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And of course, that's when the real glory came. 15 playoff appearances in 16 years, 14 division titles, 7 pennants, 5 World Series, and a new pride and understanding of what it means to be a Yankee. Even though the seeds were sown when he was gone-probably because he was gone-he was the one who kept it all going, keeping his guys, bringing in the best other guys, demanding excellence.
And now that he's gone, I think the most appropriate way I can honor is passing is to say that I, someone who prayed nightly, cried, and begged for George M. Steinbrenner to sell the team in the late 80s, now hope the Yankees are not sold and stay in the Steinbrenner family as long as there are Steinbrenners who care about the Yankees and as long as there are Yankees to be cared about.
Bill Gallo used to draw him as General von Steingrabber, in a full Prussian military uniform with epaulets on his shoulders and a spiked helmet on his head. He'd watch the Yankees with a stein of beer in one hand on a TV set into a giant foaming beer barrel, and in a mock-German accent deliver pronouncements on the state of the Yankees, baseball, and the world. That's why I usually referred to him as "the General" instead of "the Boss."
The General persona was actually pretty appropriate, as he was a military man early in life and tried to bring a military precision to Yankeedom, though he often failed because of his own bombastic personality. He could be hell on his employees. Bob Watson walked away from the Yankee GM job because he decided he wanted to sleep nights. Brian Cashman is six years older than Theo Epstein. He looks like he's thirty years older. But he valued loyalty, and hard as this may be to believe, he showed it to members of the Yankee family, over and over and over again.
He kept bringing Billy back in part to help him-in the mid to late 1980s, Billy Martin was on a crash course with death, and George hoped the responsibility of running the Yankees would save him. Didn't work. He gave Doc and Darryl chance after chance because they were New York guys and he wanted to help them. And if you believe Darryl Strawberry. he did. If you were a Yankee, you got a hand from the Boss once your career was over, to guide you on the next step, keep you in the game, or just make sure you got a check every week.
I used to hate him when I was teen in the '80s and he'd go out and blow money and prospects on the likes of Steve Trout or Andy Hawkins and say the Yankees were about to win again. And of course, he was banned from baseball twice, the second time at the end of the '80s, when the team had reached rock bottom and was basically a joke. We cheered so loudly when he was gone, because we thought it meant the bad times were over.
But absence makes the heart grow fonder, and oddly enough, we cheered loudly when he came back, even if he did pose as Napoleon on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And of course, that's when the real glory came. 15 playoff appearances in 16 years, 14 division titles, 7 pennants, 5 World Series, and a new pride and understanding of what it means to be a Yankee. Even though the seeds were sown when he was gone-probably because he was gone-he was the one who kept it all going, keeping his guys, bringing in the best other guys, demanding excellence.
And now that he's gone, I think the most appropriate way I can honor is passing is to say that I, someone who prayed nightly, cried, and begged for George M. Steinbrenner to sell the team in the late 80s, now hope the Yankees are not sold and stay in the Steinbrenner family as long as there are Steinbrenners who care about the Yankees and as long as there are Yankees to be cared about.