Steinbrenner's Legacy: Best at What He Did
Stan McNeal - SportingNews.com
Jul 13, 2010
For all he did as a baseball owner, George Steinbrenner's greatest legacy was leaving the Yankees in far better shape than when he bought them.
He wouldn't want it any other way.
Steinbrenner died early Tuesday at the age of 80 as the most famous owner in American sports history. He was famous for his firings. His willingness to pay top dollar has made mega-millionaires of countless players. He also was known for his charity donations.
But most of all, he did his job better than the rest. He bought the Yankees for $8.7 million in 1973. When Forbes again ranked the Yankees the No. 1 franchise in U.S. sports earlier this year, their value was estimated at $1.6 billion. Under Steinbrenner, the Yankees won a major-league best seven World Series and 11 pennants, moved into a new palace of a ballpark and created their own television network.
The key to Steinbrenner's success was simple: Get the best players.
"He was the first owner who paid huge sums of money to players, and he was very successful at it," says Tommy John, who signed, a four-year, $1.4 million deal before the 1979 season. "He paid very, very well and expected you to play very, very well. He was very, very tough to work for but he was very fair. He expected a hard day's work for a good dollar."
The Yankees made headlines in 1975 when they signed Catfish Hunter for $3.35 million over five years, and they won the World Series in 1977 and 1978. Before the 2008 season, they signed CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett for more than $420 million, and they won the World Series in 2009.
"All the guys in baseball making any money should go to the funeral because George is directly responsible for their salaries," John said.
The Yankees' critics howl over the unfairness that the big-market Yankees can buy titles. They usually blame Steinbrenner, but he would not be denied.
He worked hard to win, and he leaves the Yankees as the biggest winners in our sports world.
Stan McNeal is a writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at smcneal@sportingnews.com.
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