Steinbrenner’s Reign

I took an English course this past semester at school, and the main theme of the class was “Spectacle”. For our final paper, we were able to choose a topic that we thought fit that category, and I chose George Steinbrenner’s reign as owner of the New York Yankees. The purpose of my paper was to show how the different personality traits that he possessed led to success in many different aspects of his job.

spec·ta·cle /ˈspɛktəkəl/ [spek-tuh-kuhl]

Steinbrenner’s Reign

              George M. Steinbrenner III has gone down in the record books as one of the most controversial and successful owners in the history of sports. His demand for excellence and his hunger to be the best did not always put him in a good light with the people he worked with, because he was stubborn and wanted to do things his way. During his reign as owner with the New York Yankees, he had run-ins with authorities, MLB officials, players, and team personnel. If things didn’t go according to his plan, he would take matters into his own hands, berating players and messing around with the minds of his managers and employees. Even though many of his tactics were thought to be unethical, Steinbrenner transcended the game of baseball in the process by: bringing about the development of free agency, having the first organization to own and operate its own television cable network, controlling the back pages of the newspapers, and changed the way other clubs ran their teams. These developments allowed the fans to forgive and forget about the stunts Steinbrenner pulled. It was his attitude, competitiveness, larger than life personality, and his generosity that allowed his to shine the brightest in the biggest media market in the country. These personality traits were critical factors in his success as an owner: financially, on the ball field, and with the media and fans.

            Steinbrenner was a remarkable competitor, who was motivated to be successful like no other owner in the sports world. “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing. Breathing first, winning next,” he said. His whole life was a competition, dating back to his childhood when he was constantly trying to gain approval from his father. George’s father, Henry Steinbrenner, “ruled with an iron fist” and instilled the idea that winning was all that mattered in life. George could tell him that he won two out of three races in school, but his father would only focus on why he lost that third race and what went wrong. In 1973, Steinbrenner and a small group of investors purchased the New York Yankees from CBS for $8.8 million dollars. Thirty-seven years later, the organization is now worth $1.6 billion, which is the most valuable baseball team in the league (and 3^rd most valuable franchise in the world. 1^st: Manchester United $1.8B, 2^nd: Dallas Cowboys $1.65B). When he first bought the team, he led New Yorkers to believe that he would not be a hands-on owner, but he would rather keep his distance from the team and go back to his family shipping business. “I won’t be active in the day-to-day operations of the club at all. I can’t spread myself so thin. I’ve got enough headaches with my shipping company. We plan absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees is concerned,” he stated. It turned out to be the complete opposite, because he wanted his own project to work on, rather than staying put in his father’s shipping company. “I’m not here to run a country club,” Steinbrenner said. “I’m here to run a winning organization.” He soon donned the nicknames “The Boss” and “Manager George”, and would meddle in the general manager’s meetings and many of the on-field decisions. There were several occasions during the 1970’s where George would call Yankees manager, Billy Martin in the dugout during a game and give him a tongue-lashing. He would complain about anything from why they didn’t bunt in a particular situation to why Reggie Jackson wasn’t batting fourth in the lineup. It was a display of just how unreasonable George could be at times.

            With an outgoing personality and money to spend, Steinbrenner took the money out of his own pocket and put it into the team. Other team owners (some with assets totaling more than Steinbrenner) pocketed the money instead of reinvesting in their teams. Steinbrenner restored the team to the franchise they once were back in the 1950’s. In 1977, the Yankees took their first title under Steinbrenner (in his 5^th year as owner), ending a 14 year championship drought. They would go on to win the Fall Classic again in 1978. George would not stand for anything less than a world championship ring on his finger, and he would try and put the best product on the field to get it done year after year. The media claimed he had a “championship or bust” mentality. With the organization owning the highest team payroll in Major League Baseball, their standards were higher than everyone else’s. He instilled the idea in the players’ minds that anything short of a championship was considered a failure. The day after they were eliminated, George would already be mapping out the plans for next season. Under his ruling, the Yankees would go on to win a total of 7 World Series titles and 11 American League pennants. During his ownership, the Yankees were the most successful team in all of Major League Baseball.

            Steinbrenner was an ambitious man, who often tried to get ahead of all of the other organizations in the league. Some described him as a go-getter, and others didn’t like the way he went about his business. Bill lee (a former Red Sox pitcher) was happy when he heard that Steinbrenner passed. Lee is upset at Steinbrenner because he tried to have him banned from baseball. He said it was “good” and added, “trust me, if hell freezes over, he’ll be skating.” George fired his manager, Billy Martin four times and allowed him to step down once. Under his ownership, the team would change managers a total of twenty times, which was unheard of. He was irrational, a tough man to work for, but it also served him well when the idea of free agency was introduced. He once said, “I am dead set against free agency. It can ruin baseball.” Steinbrenner didn’t stick to those words very long, because he soon realized that he had the power and assets to bring in star players that would elevate his team above all the others. In fact, he was the one who started it all with the signing of “Catfish” Hunter (who was the first big-money free agent). He paid $3.75 million (a five-year deal) for Hunter, making him the highest paid player in the history of baseball at the time. Before free agency, players could only be moved from team to team through trades and player sales. Free agency allowed team owners to throw money at a player, and that’s all they needed to obtain them. For years, Steinbrenner brought in the best players that money could buy, because it was within the rules of the game to do so (without a salary cap). George felt that he owed the city of New York something, because they hadn’t won a championship in a long time and fans were paying good money to see a subpar team. Steinbrenner valued the opinions of the Yankees fans and thought that they would embrace him if he could bring them a winner. After signing free agents, “Catfish” Hunter and Reggie Jackson, the team went on to win three pennants and two World Series. Years after that, he would go on and bring in superstar players like: Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, etc. The Yankees had the resources to do so, which gave them the upper hand over the rest of the league. He brought free agency to the forefront, as it is now a major part of how the industry is run.

            He changed the business of baseball and transcended the game because other teams around the league had to change the way they managed their organizations. Teams around the league had to find a way around the Yankees, and they started to invest more into scouting young prospects and investing in their farm systems. George changed the game in other ways too, as his organization was the first to develop its first cable television network (YES Network), which turned into a billion dollar industry. He set an example for other teams. Now, most professional sports teams have their own television network, because it creates a new form of revenue for the team. The YES Network is one of the main developments behind the financial success of the Yankees organization. Not only that, but Steinbrenner created a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys called “Legends Hospitality”, which is considered the gold standard in concessions. The new Yankee Stadium that he funded also created large amounts of revenue for the team, through ticket sales and merchandising. These new movements heavily contributed to the value of the organization. According to Forbes, the YES Network and Legends Hospitality business has combined value of $3.4 billion. With these new advancements, the other teams in the league had no other choice but to follow in the Yankees footsteps in order to keep up with them financially.

            George was very outspoken for a baseball executive. His name was printed all over newspapers across America, but especially in New York. On the desk in his Yankee Stadium office, a sign reads: “Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way!” It just shows you the type of person he was. He was an intimidating presence, commanding respect from his players, staff and baseball executives around the league. After Steinbrenner passed away, John W. Henry (Red Sox principal owner) and Larry Lucchino (Red Sox President/CEO) reflected on his life:

“I had the privilege to watch George as he built a system that ensured his beloved Yankees would have a strong foundation for sustained excellence. And then we fiercely competed in the America League. George Steinbrenner forever changed baseball and hopefully some day we will see him honored in baseball’s Hall of Fame as one of the great figures in the history of sports.” (Henry)

“George Steinbrenner was one of the most important people in the history of the game, and his impact touched all aspects of the business of baseball. His vision for the Yankees turned around a once struggling franchise and manifested itself in the form of seven World Series championships and 11 American League pennants.” (Lucchino)

He was a lightning rod for the media, as he would always provide quotes and stories for the beat writers to include in their latest columns. Writers would literally line up outside the hotel he was staying at, outside his office, or at a restaurant he was eating at in case he started to go on one of his tirades. George would be critical of the team and draw in major headlines for the local papers. If he didn’t like the way something was being done, he would take the matter into his own hands. It created a lot of problems for him, as he had some run-ins with authorities, such as hiring a gambler (Howie Spira) to dig up dirt on star player, Dave Winfield, and making illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign. Steinbrenner thought Dave Winfield wasn’t a dedicated member of the team and called him “the most selfish athlete I’ve ever known.” In March of 1990, a small-time gambler, Howie Spira made his negotiations with Steinbrenner public knowledge. The paper stated that George had paid Spira $40,000 to dig up dirt on Winfield. In response, Fay Vincent (the MLB Commissioner at the time) permanently banned Steinbrenner from the day-to-day management of the team. In 1993, George was reinstated by the commissioner, but he knew that he had to change the way he treated his players and personnel. Instead, he was allowing the baseball executives in the organization to handle more of the workload. Steinbrenner was always involved, but he wasn’t jumping out of his seat like he was years before.

            Soon after President Richard Nixon resigned from office, Steinbrenner admitted in open court that he had committed a felony and lied about his reelection campaign contributions. He claimed that he conspired with eight of his AmShip employees and made illegal contributions to Nixon’s campaign back in 1972. With the Yankees not winning and all of the commotion surrounding the ball club, fans started to turn on George. Just like George, New Yorkers wanted a winner and all they were getting was a media circus. MLB Commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, suspended George for fifteen months. In 1989, President Ronald Reagan pardoned him for his actions. It showed that George was getting away with things that someone else with less influence might not have gotten away with.

            There was another side to Steinbrenner’s personality. When it came to helping those less fortunate (supporting kids of slain cops and aiding terminally ill children), Steinbrenner was always the first in line to lend a hand. George would always put money back into the community, which made him a fan favorite with the New Yorkers and in the Tampa community in which he lived. He sent a countless number of kids through college, gave out jobs to people who needed them, paid medical bills for those who couldn’t afford it and donated money to several youth organizations over the years. In August 2009, a new high school was built (named George M. Steinbrenner High School) in Florida in honor of his contributions to the Tampa community. Shortly after his passing this year, a woman came out with a story that George Steinbrenner donated $13K to pay for an operation that would save her life. Steinbrenner had a softer side, but he didn’t like to show it. The donation came with a catch: that the family could not discuss the gift with anyone. “If you do something for someone and more than two people know about, you did it for the wrong reason,” George once said. In another instance, Marty Appel (the former Public Relations director for the Yankees), said that after Thurman Munson was killed in a plane crash in 1979, Steinbrenner displayed one of his “finest hours” as owner of the New York Yankees and he was at the “top of his game.” As the leader of the organization, George took care of all the arrangements. He took over and became meticulous over every little detail, ordering his staff to get black armbands, create a plaque in his honor, retire his number and locker, leave home plate empty, and to bring Cardinal Cooke to Yankee Stadium. George wrote an epitaph that would appear on the scoreboard at the stadium and had his team lined up and ready to honor their beloved captain. When Lou Gehrig passed away, Joe McCarthy (the manager at the time) stated that there would never be another Yankees captain and that the position would die with Lou. Steinbrenner was the one who appointed Munson to be the captain of the team (the first since Lou Gehrig, which was considered a tremendous honor). George pointed at Marty Appel when the idea was brought up and he said, “Marty, if Joe McCarthy knew Thurman Munson, he’d know this was the right guy and the right time.” Mr. Steinbrenner knew how much Munson meant to the team and fans, and he took care of the Munson family with no questions asked. George admired Thurman’s work ethic, and he knew it was the right thing to do.

            George Steinbrenner is arguably one of the most successful owners in sports history, even though some of the strategies he used to gain that status were immoral. In the end, his successes on the ball field allowed fans to forgive Steinbrenner for some of his reckless acts. He was a one of a kind character, who spoke his mind and demanded excellence from those who worked for him. Steinbrenner once said, “I haven’t always done a good job, and I haven’t always been successful- but I know that I have tried.” Some say that George doesn’t deserve to be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown because of some of the stunts he pulled over the years. His outspoken personality certainly got him into trouble, but it also made him a great business man. Admitting to his own flaws, George was still proud of what he did and the things he accomplished. “In the end, I’ll put my good acts up against those of anybody in this country. Anybody,” he said. When people think of some of the greatest owners in sports history, Steinbrenner’s name is always at the top of the list.

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In the latest issue of Sports Illustrated, Mark Bechtel said, “The rest of baseball might deem him the embodiment of evil, but to Yankees fans, he was the world’s greatest Boss.”

Bibliography

Golenbock, Peter. George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.

Madden, Bill. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball. New York: Harper, 2010. Print.

Torre, Joe, and Tom Verducci. The Yankee Years. New York: Doubleday, 2009. Print.

O’Keeffe, Michael. “Howie Spira, Hired by George Steinbrenner to Help Smear Dave Winfield, Still Holds Grudge.” New York News, Traffic, Sports, Weather, Photos, Entertainment, and Gossip – NY Daily News. 13 July 2010. Web. 15 Nov. 2010. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2010/07/13/2010-07-13_howie_spira_hired_by_george_steinbrenner_to_help_smear_dave_winfield_still_holds.html.

The Bronx Is Burning. Dir. Jeremiah S. Chechik. Perf. Oliver Platt, Kevin Conway, Daniel Sunjata, John Turturro. ESPN Original Entertainment, 2007. TV Movie Series.