George Steinbrenner

George Michael Steinbrenner III was an American businessman and the principal owner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees. He was one of the most influential people in the history of professional sports, helping to introduce the era of free agency in baseball.

His legacy is the success of the Yankees during his stewardship. Steinbrenner's Yankees won the World Series in 1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.

Steinbrenner passed away on July 13, 2010 from a massive heart attack in Tampa at the age of 80.

The son of a wealthy Cleveland-area shipping magnate, Steinbrenner capitalized on the family fortune to become the chairman of the American Shipbuilding Company. Although shipbuilding was how he made his money, Steinbrenner was determined to invest his earnings in sports franchises. When CBS offered the Yankee franchise for sale in 1973, Steinbrenner assembled a team of private investors, with him at the helm, to make the purchase.

After purchasing the of the Yankees was completed in 1973, Steinbrenner famously was quoted as saying that he would let baseball people run the day-to-day operations and that he would, "...stick to ship building." That didn't last very long.

He attempted to hire Dick Williams immediately after Williams resigned from being manager of the then World Series champion Oakland Athletics. The following year, Steinbrenner was convicted in federal court for making illegal campaign contributions to former U.S. President Richard Nixon. On November 27, 1974, Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn for two years.

Returning to the fold in 1976, Steinbrenner hired Billy Martin and signed Catfish Hunter to a free agent contract. The Yankees returned to the World Series for the first time in 13 years, the longest drought at that time in franchise history.

The following season, Steinbrenner stoked the fires of free agency in sports by signing Reggie Jackson to a free agent contract. The triumvirate of Jackson, Martin, and Steinbrenner, fueled the tabloid wars in New York City during the late 1970's. It seemed as if every day, especially during the summer of 1977, there were new stories with comments from one of the three about the other two.

Still, the Yankees thrived despite all of the bombastic remarks and won the World Series, thanks to 3 home runs by Jackson in the clinching sixth game. The next season, they fell 14 1/2 games out of first in late summer, and when Martin was quoted in a story about Jackson and Steinbrenner saying, "...the two were meant for each other; one's a born liar, and the other's convicted..." Martin resigned before being fired. The Yankees then rallied and won the pennant and eventually a second World Series title.

The Yankees did not win a third straight championship because of the tragic death of Thurman Munson in 1979. The next two seasons saw the Yankees reach the post-season but did not win a championship. He brought in many free agents such as Dave Winfield (whom Steinbrenner nicknamed "Mr. May" after Winfield's struggles in the 1981 World Series), and decided not to renew Jackson's contract. Jackson's first game back at Yankee Stadium with the California Angels saw Jackson hit a home run off Ron Guidry, leading fans to chant "Steinbrenner Sucks" as Jackson rounded the bases.

For the rest of the 1980's, Steinbrenner continued to change managers and players in a desperate attempt to win another title. Martin was fired a total of five times, and over the course of Steinbrenner's ownership of the team, the club changed managers 22 times during a 37 seasons.

In 1990, Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball for the second time in his life by then commissioner Fay Vincent. The suspension came about after it was discovered that he paid known gambler and convicted felon Howie Spira $40,000 to dig up dirt on Winfield after Winfield sued Steinbrenner. The suit was due to a non-payment of $30,000 to Winfield's charitable foundation that was part of Winfield's contract. The banishment was originally a lifetime ban, which when announced at Yankee Stadium led to a two-minute standing ovation by Yankee fans who grew tired of Steinbrenner's meddling ways.

Following his return to baseball in 1993, Steinbrenner decided to let his baseball people make the decisions on running the franchise. In doing so, they stopped simply overpaying for the biggest free agents and built the team from within. As a result, players such as Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Derek Jeter came up through the ranks.

In 1996, Steinbrenner hired Joe Torre and the club won their first World Series in 18 seasons. It was the first of four titles over a five-year span. The club would continue to compete for world championships, qualifying for the post-season every season from 1995 through 2007. The team moved into a brand new Yankee Stadium in 2009, and won another World Series title.

He also developed the YES Network, his own television network devoted entirely to his team, and in the process developing a new revenue stream giving him another advantage in terms of developing his franchise.

Steinbrenner's ownership of the Yankees, and his public persona in doing so, allowed for him to become larger than life. He owned several thoroughbred horses and for a time had minority ownership interests in both the New Jersey Nets and the New Jersey Devils.

He and Martin appeared in the long-running series of Miller Lite 'tastes great - less filling' commercials. In 1990, he actually hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live. He was also referenced in an episode of The Simpsons in which Don Mattingly is fired from a company baseball team by Mr. Burns and Mattingly states that he, "...still like him (Burns) better than Steinbrenner."

Most non-baseball fans became aware of Steinbrenner in the popular 1990's TV series Seinfeld. For several season, Jason Alexander's character George Costanza worked as the assistant to the traveling secretary, and there were several scenes in which he interacted with Steinbrenner. Larry David portrayed Steinbrenner, often referring to himself as 'Big Stein', always being shown from behind (mostly in a big executive office chair). Steinbrenner himself was a huge fan of the show and of David's portrayal of himself.

On July 12, 2010, reports surfaced that Steinbrenner, who had been in failing health in the last few years of his life, had been admitted to a Tampa area hospital with a massive heart attack. The on July 13 came confirmation of his death at the age of 80 and on the day of the 81st Major League Baseball MLB All-Star Game. It also occurred two days after the death of longtime Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard.