The words are well known in baseball circles. At the time, they seemed genuine. Now, they are simply infamous:
"We plan absentee ownership. We're not going to pretend we're something we're not. I'll stick to building ships."
Those were the remarks of George Steinbrenner back in 1973, when he purchased the New York Yankees for the now−paltry sum of $10 million — or about one third of what Alex Rodriguez will make this year.
Of course, Steinbrenner did not end up sticking to his shipping business. He went on to become one of the most divisive, controversial personalities in sports history. And no matter how you feel about the man, whether you think he's ruined baseball or saved it, his impact on the game and unparalleled success are undeniable.
Everyone knows that the Yankees have a storied history: Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Maris. The franchise won five straight championships between 1949 and 1953, and it had accumulated 20 World Series titles by 1962.
But then the Yankees fell into an oft−overlooked dark period. CBS purchased a majority stake in the franchise in 1964, and the following year, the Yankees finished second in the division for the first time in 40 years. In 1966, they finished last for the first time since 1912. The team was full of aging superstars — Mantle was a shadow of his former self, Maris became a bench player — and it was unable to restock its core of talent.
That is, until Steinbrenner came along. When Catfish Hunter became the first modern−day free agent in 1974, after an independent arbiter ruled that the team had failed to honor the terms of his contract, Steinbrenner was quick to snatch him up for five years and $3.5 million — a revolutionary signing that paved the way for the "Hot Stove" that generates so much baseball interest in the offseason.
Two years later, Steinbrenner signed Reggie Jackson, and the Yanks went on to win it all in 1977 and 1978.
Steinbrenner hit a slump of his own after that point. He overstepped the boundaries in interfering with team affairs, and that certainly had more than a little to do with the team's struggles. He had public feuds with manager Billy Martin, firing and hiring and firing him again (all in all, Martin held the Yankees' managerial position five separate times). He spent heaps of money on players who were aging and losing their skills (sounds familiar, doesn't it?).
Steinbrenner got so meddlesome that the Yankees didn't get back on track until he was suspended from day−to−day team operations for employing a private investigator to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield. It was at that point that the Yankees drafted and cultivated homegrown stars like Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.
But even though Steinbrenner has had his troubles with the team, his triumphs greatly outweighed those setbacks. He's won seven World Series and 11 AL Championships during his tenure as owner. He built a money−printing cable network dedicated solely to the Yankees. He helped to expand baseball interest in Japan and China. He turned his $10 million investment into a franchise that is now estimated to be worth over $1 billion.
If you're not a Yankees fan, you probably view Steinbrenner as the Dark Lord of the Evil Empire. But he hasn't only improved the Yankees — he's been a major reason for the rise in baseball interest and profitability over the past 30 years.
These days, Steinbrenner has ceded control of the teaxm to his two sons, Hank and Hal. And while Hank has earned a reputation similar to that of his father — a man who is sometimes brash with his comments — there will never be a true replacement for the figure simply referred to as The Boss.
He is arguably the most influential sports personality of my lifetime. And as my days as a Daily columnist come to a close, I felt it was about time to recognize him.
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David Heck is a senior majoring in philosophy. He can be reached at David.Heck@tufts.edu.
