R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

[Xithor]

I woke up this morning ready and excited to watch the All-Star game tonight after watching David Ortiz win the HR Derby yesterday to grim news. George Steinbrenner died early this morning of a massive heart attack in his Tampa, FL home. What sad news it is indeed. Today a giant in the world of giant passed on and left behind one of the most storied franchises that he helped to rebuild from the ground up.

Steinbrenner took over the Yankees in 1973, as part of the group that bought them for $8.7 million, and proceeded to build them into a franchise that is now worth over $1.5 billion. Through his years as the owner of the Yankees he may be remembered as the involved owner that had no problem firing his manager in a moments notice if he believed someone else could help him win, his most remembered would be the hiring and firing of Billy Martin a total of 5 times. He always seemed to be on the front page of the New York Times with the latest feud with someone. But there were so many things that he did in the community to help the people of New York as well as everywhere that he went. People called him "The Boss" and although I am a New York Mets fan I am a baseball fan first and foremost and it saddens me to hear of Steinbrenner's passing.

[Pete]

He did more good for baseball than anyone else I can think of. Regardless of how you feel about the Yanks, you have to give him credit for having the balls to revolutionize so much about the sport, and also TV.

He was one of the first people to have the idea of selling the rights to broadcast games on cable. He made millions off of that idea alone. After that, he decided to give the Yanks their own cable network, which is now worth just over a billion dollars.

I think what makes him so much different, and so much smarter than a lot of the small market teams, is that whatever money he generates in revenue, he puts it right back into the team, by picking up more superstars. On one hand, it makes the game rather lopsided and a little ridiculous, but on the other, if other teams followed that model, I think teams would be a lot better off. However, you wouldn't be far off from seeing your first billion dollar contract... and that would be disgusting.

I respect what he does with his team. I don't like it, but when the name of the game is to win it all, he's done it at all costs. As a Mets fan, I can respect. that. RIP George.

[FinalFantasyPsycho]

I was also shocked to hear of Steinbrenner's passing. When I was young, my family were big fans of baseball. The Yankee's were their favorite and we used to watch almost every single game together. It almost felt like we were a part of the team's family. Whenever something happened with someone on the team, we knew about it. It's very sad to hear about this (especially when the Yankee's announcer Bob Sheppard just passed away recently as well). I can't even begin to understand how much Steinbrenner did for the Yankee's. It's a big loss for everyone.

[Zargabaath]

Another Mets fan here, hahahaha.

Anyhuma, I was shocked to hear that he died - the end of an era. Steinbrenner was an unique guy who helped bring about change in how baseball teams were run and had a mouth to create some controversy - which Hank has inherited. Though what many people fail to remember is that good ol' George had been suspended, by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, for 2 years in 74 for illegal contributions to the Nixon campaign (which got reduced to 15 months).

Then in 1990 the Dave Winfield controversy erupted in which George was banned for life by Commissioner Fay Vincent, however, 3 years down the road George was reinstated - 1 year after Selig took over. Why the reversal? The owners didn't want the commissioner to have too much power so they kicked out one puppet and put in another puppet. Most of us, if not all, were too young to remember but my father has said that if Bart Giamatti had been been alive George's ban would have sticked. Giamatti was the commissioner who got Pete Rose banned, though he died within the year of taking the commissioner's job, so it was Fay Vincent who was there to finalize the deal. Giammatti would not have tolerated Steinbrenner's actions as Giammatti was lining up to be a powerful commissioner that would have kept the integrity of the game.

[Xithor]

Then in 1990 the Dave Winfield controversy erupted in which George was banned for life by Commissioner Fay Vincent, however, 3 years down the road George was reinstated - 1 year after Selig took over. Why the reversal? The owners didn't want the commissioner to have too much power so they kicked out one puppet and put in another puppet. Most of us, if not all, were too young to remember but my father has said that if Bart Giamatti had been been alive George's ban would have sticked. Giamatti was the commissioner who got Pete Rose banned, though he died within the year of taking the commissioner's job, so it was Fay Vincent who was there to finalize the deal. Giammatti would not have tolerated Steinbrenner's actions as Giammatti was lining up to be a powerful commissioner that would have kept the integrity of the game.

I had no idea that Steinbrenner had actually been banned from the game but the thing that he did to Winfield, trying to dig up dirt on him was truly not right. But I was happy to see that Winfield was able to go down to Tampa and reconcile with George before he passed on. The people that interacted with him had nothing but good things to say about him and hearing that he would keep people that had helped out in the past on the payroll as "scouts" just to thank them really made me feel good.

Btw liking all the Mets fans here haha

[Pete]

I only wish the Wilpons were as hard up to win as Steinbrenner was. Granted, he ruined a lot of those old time baseball allegiances and single handedly destroyed rivalries with his willingness to spend money, but he puts a winning product on the field.

The Mets on the other hand...



enough said.

[Zargabaath]

And we could have got Derek Lowe for the same contract that was given to Oliver Perez....

I do have my doubts about the Wilpons and that they may be too obsessed with the Brooklyn Dodgers instead of the Mets. At the same time it seems whoever the Mets get they do poorly though whenever the Yanks get anybody they flourish - there cases that go against this but that's what I've noticed for the most part.

Once case and point: Billy Wagner couldn't handle NY, but he goes to Atlanta and was an All-Star or would have been but was injured, right? Remember Roberto Alomar Jr and Carlos Baerga(?) - both horrible. I think one of the biggest problems for the Mets is they tend to get players past their prime: Kevin Appier, Alomar Jr, Baerga, Mo Vaughn, Orel Hershiser, Shawn Estes, etc. Even Pedro and Santana were passed their prime when the Mets got them - though they were still very good.

[Xithor]

Not wanting to get too far away from Steinbrenner but I agree with you Zargabaath the Mets do tend to get a lot of players past their prime like Santana and Beltran who has been injured plagued for the past few years even though they are still performing so well into their 30's. I am confident that the future is bright though as long as we hang onto the left side of the infield in Reyes and Wright, and the rookie Ike Davis over at first has stepped in as a rookie into the clean up spot of the lineup and produced. I also like the way that Pagan has played in Beltran's absence and with Francoeur and Bay in the corners I think that the Mets are prime for a strong second half run.

Not to mention the great seasons that the Mets are getting out of their young starting rotation. Pelfrey (10-4, 3.58 ERA), Niese (6-3, 3.61 ERA) and Takahashi (7-3, 4.15 ERA) have been great pleasant surprises for the Mets and add in Santana (7-5, 2.98 ERA) and K-Rod (21 SV, 2.45 ERA) at the back of the bullpen sounds to me like a great pitching staff. They need to go out and get somebody at the deadline though, they really need an 8th inning guy that can get them to K-Rod in the 9th because I've seen him come in far too many times well out of 3 out range. There was a kid in spring training throwing smoke, like 95+ but they sent him down to AAA and I think he may have been up with the big league club for a few games maybe but I can't recall his name. Mejia maybe? That kid had great stuff and he will be an awesome long term reliever.

Last thing before I stop ranting about the Mets. Why didn't Pelfrey make the All-Star team?!?! When voting closed he was 10-2 with a sub 3.00 ERA. Who are the players voting for? Goodness lol

[Pete]

Yeah, it was Jennry Meija. I think he's bounced up and down before, but I'm not 100% sure.
As for the Mets getting people past their prime, I suggest you guys read Moneyball, if you haven't already. It's funny because it mentions Minaya back when he was the Expos GM, and how Billy Beane tried to screw him over back in 01 or 02. Most of the players the book focused on, became Mets shortly after the book was written. Of course, this was after they were too expensive or too useless to the A's.

And yeah, I'm pissed that Big Pelf didn't make it too! How does Omar Infante make it as a backup, and Pelf, one of the best pitchers this season not? I'm calling shenanigans! Also, what was with 8 Yanks and 8 Red Sox being on the team. That's a little overkill.

[Josh_R]

Ahh George what can I say. He was a god among, and a credit to the sport. He will greatly be missed.

[Ragnarok]

I was able to watch whatever games I wanted until I moved away from Virginia in June. With no cable where I'm at now, I wasn't able to watch a game until the All-Star Game. The LAST thing I expected was to find out Steinbrenner died. I'm not a Yankees fan by any means (I go for the other end of the win-loss spectrum...go Diamondbacks!), but that news really bummed me out.