Wednesday, July 14, 2010

George Steinbrenner, dead at 80


On Tuesday July  13, 2010 George Steinbrenner, the majority owner of the New York Yankees died of what was reported as "a massive heart attack."  Steinbrenner, hated by many and loved by few was one of the most controversial and unknown men in sports.  When I woke up on Tuesday and turned on ESPN I just couldn't believe my ears.  The man labeled by the media as "The Boss," was gone.  Even those that didn't like him or his style of dropping billions on players had to be sad and shocked by the news of this great sports personality passing and they couldn't deny the man's genius.  He was a great invester and he knew what he had to do to win. 

Sure anyone could buy championships, but he was actually willing to do it, unlike a lot of penny pinching owners that just care about making money.  He could also spend as much as he liked, he had made a very smart investment and it paid off.  A Yankee's Team which he bought in 1973 for a mere price of under $10 million is now worth upward of $1.5 billion and is the 3rd most valuable franchise in all of sports.

The man also seen as a cancer to baseball and ruled the Yankees with an iron fist has brought the game to great heights.  He helped create the flow of free agency and was willing to pay his players shooting up the price of players.  This helped other teams because they would get millikons from a luxary tax for overpaying.  Also teams sell put pretty much every game when the Evil Empire is coming town because they have millions of fans worldwide and many people will show up just to boo and hate on the visitors from New York.  His adventures in free agency have also helped fuel what is arguabley the best rivalry in all of sports, the Red Sox verses the Yankees.  What started with the curse of the Great Bambino was heated up by the need for the the Sox to battle the Yankees in free agency to be able to compete in the season.

Steinbrenner, also seen as a loudmouth who just fired people if they lost a game was also a very generous person.  You could meet him in a restuaraunt one day and the next he would give you a scholarship to college.  He supported the whole New York community after the tragic events of 9/11, when a Little League Team's near his home in Tampa, FL equiptment shed burned down he bought them a brand new one and stocked it with new gear.  Also he had bought wings for the hospital in which he died because even though he had some faults, he was a good man who wanted to help the community where ever he went.

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