Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball is a 2010 biography written by Bill Madden in New York. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball was published in the last year of The Boss’s life; he owed the New York Yankees. What is amazing is that Steinbrenner bought the Yankees for $10 million in 1973; they are worth over $1 billion now, so that was a good investment. Steinbrenner, known as ‘The Boss,’ is a fascinating subject worthy of study by baseball fans and non-fans alike. The boss was famous for being demanding. Can you think of a more demanding person than Steinbrenner?
How George Steinbrenner Made His Millions
Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball is an authoritative look at George Steinbrenner’s life and accomplishments, which were many. George Steinbrenner was brought up strictly, went to Williams, was from Ohio, and joined the United States Air Force. The Ohio State University Marching Band practice room bears his name. Steinbrenner was a generous benefactor of The Ohio State University. He was President of the US Olympic Committee.
The Boss made his initial millions in the shipbuilding industry. There, he was infamous for driving a hard bargain, a trait he would carry over to the ownership of the Yankees. He put together a group, for which he was the principal partner, to buy the struggling Yankees for $!0 million in 1973. He pushed out his partners and took over. He had a harsh way of dealing with people, probably due to his strict upbringing. That strict attitude is best evidenced by his continual hiring and firing of managers for the Yankees.
While The Boss owned the New York Yankees, as detailed in Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, they were very successful. They won 7 World Series, including in 2009, just before he died. He fought a running battle with the City of New York to get a new baseball stadium for the Yankees to play in, and was successful in 2009, just before he died on July 13, 2010. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball was a New York Times bestseller.
The Managerial Carousal
Perhaps nothing explained The Boss’s harsh personality, like his repeated firings of Yankee managers, which he did 20 times. It was like he thought losing was their fault. Famously, he hired and fired Billy Martin, who played second base for the Yankees in the 1950s, 5 times. They even made a beer commercial about it.
The Boss was very successful with his harsh policies, but he was continually on the back pages of the New York newspapers. He believed there was no such thing as bad press, so he sought to stay there, oftentimes by acting out. In Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball, Madden writes how The Boss would get bent out of shape by losing spring training games.
There was one ugly incident. After the 1980 season, The Boss signed Dave Winfield to a 10-year, $23 million contract, making Winfield baseball’s highest-paid player. He criticized Winfield’s performance in 1985 and had him get dirt on Winfield from a known gambler. That sordid incident eventually got The Boss banned from baseball.
The Boss and His Best Investment
The Boss was very successful as the owner of the New York Yankees. This success was in spite of his antics. He won 7 World Series, got a new stadium built, and increased his investment from $10 million to over $1 billion. We are not done with his legacy. He bequeathed ownership of the Yankees to his family, and they still own the team today. He was very dedicated to the Yankee Leacy, and that is something he bequeathed as well.
Conclusion
The Boss was born on July 4, 1930, in Ohio. It was fitting he was born on the fourth of July. He was a patriot who owed the New York Yankees and was the chair of the US Olympic Committee (in fact, he was instrumental in bringing the Olympics to Los Angeles in 1984). He is justifiably celebrated as a great man.
