I am a Boston Red Sox fan. Enough said of how I feel about the Yankees. George Steinbrenner was a part of their history for the past 37 years. He changed baseball bringing a large purse to the table to acquire players to build again a Yankee winning legacy. His Yanks won 11 pennants, 7 World Series, and 2 suspensions. Today George passed away of a massive heart attack. Everything George did was massive including the way he left the earth.
I remember him as bigger than life in all he did. He was loud and boisterous. He seemed to enjoy making huge waves in the public eye. He appeared to enjoy firing coaches and some were masochistic and kept coming back for more. But he made being a Yankee a desire (if you like the Yankees). Steinbrenner’s trademark quick axe was typified with manager Billy Martin, whom he hired and fired five times. Steinbrenner changed skippers 17 times in his first 17 years as owner and 20 times in his first 23, in addition to going through 11 general managers during his tenure.
Steinbrenner's final appearance at Yankee Stadium was at this year's home opener, when Derek Jeter and Joe Girardi presented him with his World Series ring. George headed a group of investors who bought the Yankees from CBS in 1973 for approximately $10 million. Today the franchise is worth about $1 billion. His career as owner was the longest in team history. When he took the reins of the club, he told the media, "I won’t be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all," then spent the next 37 years refuting that claim.
George...thanks for the memories. How will you remember George?
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