By The Gambler
A baseball legend passed away nearly two weeks ago. George Steinbrenner, former Yankees owner and American icon had a massive heart attack at age 80. We have lost a lot of great men in the past month. My wife’s grandfather recently passed away. He was a mentor, educator and tremendous family man. [My Fanalysts partner] Phife Dawg’s grandma recently passed as well. She was a major influence in his rise to stardom and development as a man. Truly heroes to us all. Just like Steinbrenner was a hero to the legions of Yankee fans across the world, and the human beings he helped — and hurt –along the way.
Steinbrenner purchased a downtrodden Yankees franchise in 1973. He returned the pride to the pinstripes. He changed the game with the way he spent money to bring a winner to the fan. He drove up player salaries. He opened the flood gates of free agency even further. George Steinbrenner was known as a no nonsense guy. As a young owner, he treated people like dirt and demanded impossible perfection from his players, managers and employees. He was a fighter. A feisty business mogul whose financial success was directly related to his thirst for victory. As he matured and returned from a two-and-a-half-year suspension from baseball, Steinbrenner became a beloved figure, particularly during the Yankee dynasty years of 1996-current. He transformed a hated image into one synonymous with reverence and baseball royalty. His resilience and dedication to winning, endeared him to people. He was the single most compelling force behind the Yankees becoming the #1 sports franchise in the world. I mean, the man bought the Yanks for about $9 million, and he died with the team worth over 1.6 billion.
I have a George Steinbrenner story that I want to share with the fellow FANalysts. It was 1997 and I was working for a newspaper in The Sunshine State covering Major League Baseball Spring Training at the Yankee Complex in Tampa. I was working on a story on “The Lost Art of Pitching,” that would be the cover piece for our Spring Training preseason issue. The Yankees were playing The Indians. I was there to interview Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada, David Justice and whoever else I could get to talk to me about why pitchers were giving up so many homeruns and ERA’s had skyrocketed. This is during the height of the steroids ERA, which media and fans alike ignored for so long.
Anyway, I was making my way to the indoor food court. I approached the line, looked up and standing there was The Boss himself. The man behind the biggest sports brand on the universe. I looked up at him with my New York fitted joint on and said “Hello Mr. Steinbrenner.“I’m a big fan of yours.”
He smiled and asked me how my day was going. I thought to myself, nobody is going to believe I am standing at a food counter kicking it with George Steinbrenner. We exchanged further pleasantries. Then…he looked down and noticed a pad sticking out of my pants pocket, and media credentials tucked into my shirt. Me telling him I worked for the press, just about ended a conversation he had for me. But just for a moment, I had the most notorious and celebrated modern day baseball owner engaged in a conversation. An owner who did anything to win, including paying millions in taxes and revenue sharing to other greedy owners, who cried” small market” and pocketed the money instead of reinvesting in a winning team. He was the standard by which ultimate excellence is measured. It is one of my most cherished moments as a journalist.
Who says lightening doesn’t strike twice? The other time I met Mr. Steinbrenner was at the Yankee ticker tape parade in 1998 – after we beat The San Diego Padres. I was with The Jackie Robinson Steppers, a youth marching band from Brooklyn who was invited to play on the balcony of City Hall which sits right above the podium and chairs they had set up for Yankee players. The streets of Manhattan were log jammed with people for miles. We were fortunate enough to be in the balcony, inside City Hall, and able to look down on all of the action right below us. We felt larger than life. Yankee management and other celebrities would go in and out of City Hall like a train station.
I was in a non-work capacity, but I took pictures with Joe Torre that day and…Well what do ya know…it’s The Boss. I walked up on Mr. Steinbrenner and reminded him of our last encounter. I assured him I wasn’t working today. He looked at me laughed and said, “Tampa.” I said, “You are still sharp as a nail” [I know I’m corny]…Then we took a picture together at the top of the steps. I can still remember how his World Championship Ring glistened off the flash of the camera. My boy John Scott was with me that day, so was my sister Afiya. I had on my beigeish –brown butter soft Yankee leather with the blue and purple “Yankees” written across the back and the sick blue Yankee emblem on the front. That same season Yankees all-star centerfielder Bernie Williams was a hair from signing with the hated Red Sox. Our chants of “Bernie, don’t go!” had to drown out half of the ceremony. He kept smiling and looking up to see who it was. Security had to come tell us to keep quiet. I guess it worked. At least we like to egotistically think so. Bernie eventually told Boston to shove $80 million up their asses and re-signed with the Yankees, for much more of course. The rest is history.
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