A Mortal Hero

Let's be honest...for a baseball and football fan, this is probably the slowest time of the year. We're not that close to the NFL draft and the Super Bowl is over. Major League Baseball is still several weeks away from Opening Day, and position players are finally all reporting to their Spring Training facilities. It's time that The Inside Corner blog pays tribute to a legend, and once again, vies for his Hall of Fame Induction (see the post about John Sterling last month).

George M. Steinbrenner III, at the helm of the Yankees since the 1970's, has provided some classic moments, championship teams, pure entertainment, and been the backbone of the greatest sports franchise in the world. Now, it pains me to see him at a mortal state battling various health issues. How much fun would it have been to see George, not Hal, accept the World Series trophy at the new Yankee Stadium this past November?

Many people, mostly non-Yankee fans, have negative opinions of The Boss. We hear it every time the Yankees pick up a free agent, or win a title. The team is accused of buying championships, and controlling baseball like a monopoly. The bottom line: other teams' fans are jealous because their owners don't work as hard, or they put the majority of the team's revenue in their pockets. George Steinbrenner loves winning, loves New York, and loves his Yankees. Without him, there's no YES Network, no new stadium, and who knows how many of his 7 titles would have been won without him in the owner's booth?

I had a chance to see George Steinbrenner once, at Game 3 of the '99 World Series, also known as the "Chad Curtis Game." I was walking from the bathroom on the loge level with my dad, when I yelled out that I saw George Steinbrenner. Dad didn't catch a glimpse of him, but we turned and there he was: blue blazer, white turtle neck, chest out. I raced back, and as a short 13-year-old, yelled out, "Hi Mr. Steinbrenner!" I received a pat on the back from The Boss, and a "Hiya pal!" Never will I forget this moment.

Most kids grew up wanting to be Don Mattingly or Derek Jeter. I wanted to be George Steinbrenner. There is no reason whatsoever that George is not yet enshrined in Cooperstown. You could argue that he is the greatest owner in the history of sports. He bought the Yankees for about $10 million in 1973, and now they are worth over $1 billion and really are a worldwide enterprise. Sadly, it looks like if he is elected to Cooperstown, he may not be around to see it. I'll never forget crying when he rode out on a golf cart during the '08 All Star Game festivities at the old Yankee Stadium. It was tough to see him like that, crying and shaking hands with his former players and opponents.

George Steinbrenner is no longer the screaming, criticizing, media circus that he once was. I wasn't really around for the five firings of Billy Martin, his phone calls in the dugout, or issuing an apology to New York City after the Yankees blew the '81 World Series to Tommy Lasorda's Dodgers. He proves the point that we all get older, but legacies will never die. The Yankees play in the House that George Built, and the franchise still starts every year with the hope, no, the expectation, that the World Series title will be hoisted in New York once again. Thanks, George.