I'll respect him as a sports owner of the game, but not the corrupt man who can get away scott-free time and again.
I have a good friend who is a life-long Yankees fan. While he will respect the loss of life, he will celebrate that George Steinbrenner no longer owns the Yankees. To him all those World Series victories were tainted.
I think my friend was not impressed that Steinbrenner could win by having double or triple (upper limit?) the payroll of some of his competitors plus the Big Apple lure and the Yankee lore (Ruth, Gehrig et al) on his side. For years Steinbrenner had revolving managers. I know he hired Billy Martin at least twice to be Manager. That kind of impulsiveness and lavishness just rubbed him wrong, but he didn't stop rooting for the Yankees. He's a serious baseball guy. Still plays competitive hardball at age 56 with "kids" twenty years his junior. Supervises umpiring in this area. Sells sports memorabilia online. He's a historian-- including baseball-- so his is not a casual opinion.
Last year was the first time the Yankees won with such an egregious payroll disparity. In the 90s dynasty the Yankees were neck and neck with the Orioles, the Braves, the Dodgers, the Rangers and other teams. Heck, in 1998, considered one of the greatest years by a team of all time, they weren't the highest payroll in the league. The other years they were the margin was like $10 million or less, which is less than the difference between the Astros payroll now and tons of teams. So, your friend can have whatever opinion he wants, but if he didn't like Steinbrenner and considered those championships "tainted" he is both silly and misinformed. But at least his opinion isn't "casual" whatever that means.
I'm only summarizing what I've heard my friend say over the years. I've kind of blended it up and poured it out here. I doubt you know more about the Yankees than he does. By "casual" I mean that he is a student of the game and of the history of MLB. In sum, Steinbrenner equally brought scandal and success to the franchise and the game of baseball. What year was that he got suspended from the game? The taint had to do with more than just money. There was much he disliked about George. If he wasn't belligerent, he was flamboyant. He treated people like garbage. The Yankees were America's team before cable television and before Steinbrenner bought them. I don't remember people hating the Yankees before Steinbrenner came along.
I won't say I know more or he knows more as I don't know him, but I am not a "casual" fan either. I have done research on the team, written papers, blogs, etc. I am as hardcore as a fan can get. Now that I have whipped out my Yankee EPeen to awe you, let's continue... There is a lot that Stein did that was/is a black mark on his record and that of the Yankees, but that's not what you said. You said he felt those titles were tainted because of George's money. That's ridiculous. It's also ridiculous to say those titles were tainted as they were won largely by a homegrown nucleus sprinkled with veterans and George had been suspended from baseball so had little to do with the roster. Now, if he wanted to say they were tainted because the drug addicts that littered the rosters of those title teams, fine. But then he should probably just quit watching sports as all titles would be tainted under that criteria.
look giddy, i'm not even a yankee fan. the point i'm trying to make is that your friend may be a "student of the game," but he is also a masochist. george was the boss for 37 years, FCOL!
I'm sure you are not just a casual fan; I'm not even a casual fan. I'm just representing what I remember my longtime Yankee-loving (~50 years) friend saying what he thought of the man. He used to have a bi-annual part on Babe Ruth's birthday for gosh sakes! I tried to call him for a quotation but his son got married in Vermont this past weekend and I don't think he's home yet. From what I've seen and heard there could not be a human being more polar opposite of George Steinbrenner than my friend... and that is the root of his distaste for the man and his "accomplishments." Had it been another, un-favored franchise, I doubt he would have given it much thought but these were his beloved Yankees. They're all just opinions anyway. I'm sure George was not as bad as he's made out to be in the press; most people aren't.
Actually I asked him about that many times. My friend grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. The Orioles were a damn fine team in that era: Brooks Robinson (my friend was also a third baseman), Boog Powell, Paul Blair, Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar (ex-Astro) and others. And of course the Washington Senators were around then some, too. Can't remember what year they moved out of D.C. Best I can recall, he said it was just one of those inexplicable connections probably associated with Mickey Mantle. Maybe it came through his dad or something. I'll have to ask him.
George had a lot of bad qualities, but he also gave millions to charity that no one ever heard about unless they went digging.
Rex Hudler told a story of how George Steinbrenner really took a looking to him after the Yankees drafted him in the 1st round. Steinbrenner LOVED Hudler's "Yes Sir/No Sir" manners, self discipline, all out hustle, team first attitude, clean cutness and professionalism. What Steinbrenner considered a model baseball citizen and EXEMPLARY of "Yankees Baseball". Since it appealed to directly Steinbrenner's disciplined background (Air Force, football coach). Steinbrenner still traded Hudler away a few years later after only a handful of big league at-bats. You still gotta hit the ball and help win baseball games to play for The Boss.
