By the early 1970s, the future New York Yankees owner, George M. Steinbrenner was one of Cleveland’s captains of industry, having taken his family shipping firm to new heights and used it to leverage a purchase of American Shipbuilding Company. He turned AmShip into one of the country’s largest shipbuilders — and the largest on the Great Lakes. He would fail in his attempt to purchase the Cleveland Indians, but when CBS wanted to sell the New York Yankees, Steinbrenner would realize his dream.
George Michael Steinbrenner III was born July 4, 1930, in Rocky River, Ohio, a western suburb of Cleveland. At the age of 14, he was sent to his father’s alma mater, Culver Military Academy. While there, he played football and basketball and ran track. However, he did not play baseball, he was never good at it. After bringing his grades up at Culver, Steinbrenner went to Williams College — which, his father never failed to remind him, wasn’t MIT. He was also denied admission to Harvard, a fact he cheerfully recalled in 1979 when he was asked to give a speech to the college’s vaunted business school.
In the fall of 1955, Steinbrenner took a job on the coaching staff of former Cleveland Brown Lou Saban, then the coach at Northwestern University. After one winless season, Saban was fired, as was Steinbrenner, in favor of a new coach from Miami of Ohio: Ara Parseghian. (Steinbrenner would later hire Saban as Yankees President for a year in 1981)
George Steinbrenner’s first foray into sports ownership would be when he would buy into the Cleveland Pipers, a team in the National Industrial Basketball League. In 1972, he bought about 11 percent of the Chicago Bulls. In 1971 the Cleveland Indians were for sale. Steinbrenner and other investors agreed to buy the baseball team, but the deal fell through, disappointing Steinbrenner who had always wanted to own a baseball team. Gabe Paul brought a deal to Steinbrenner as 1972 came to an end. CBS was looking to unload the Yankees for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that the cupboard was bare. At that point, they were playing second fiddle in New York to the Mets.
Steinbrenner formed a syndicate and they bought the New York Yankees for $10 million. Steinbrenner would eventually buy out his partners and became the sole owner of the Yankees. Steinbrenner would get to work immediately as a hands-on owner. He would impose several strict rules for players, impose an appearance requirement, hire new players, and refurbish the decaying Yankee Stadium.
Everything about Steinbrenner was winning for the fans and the city of New York. He was one of the first owners to take advantage of free agency. He purchased Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, and others to make his team the best in baseball. He went on to win 7 World Series Championships and 16 division titles, the most for any MLB team during his 42 years of owning the New York Yankees franchise. During that time he would build the club from a worth of $10 million to a value of $3.5 billion (2016).
Not always the most liked baseball owner, Steinbrenner didn’t care, even getting suspended for a time. All he wanted to do was win, a legacy that has carried over to his family that now owns the team. In one of his last moves while aging and being ill, was to present the team and fans with a new state of the art Yankee Stadium. Steinbrenner was last seen at the old Yankee Stadium at the 2008 All-Star game where he while obviously ill. In a ceremony with Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, and others at the mound, he handed out the balls for the game.
George M. Steinbrenner died on this day, July 13, 2010, of a massive heart attack and stroke. Steinbrenner will go down in history as the most influential sport’s owner of all time. Thank you George for all you did for the New York Yankees. As you look down on this coronavirus shortened season, know that you will never be forgotten by Yankee fans.
EmpireSportsMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Follow me on Twitter @parleewilliam.