The baseball world lost a big name yesterday, one even most of you non-baseball fans will recognize. George Steinbrenner, longtime owner of the New York Yankees and recurring faux Seinfeld guest star, died of a heart attack Tuesday morning at the age of 80.
To jog your memory a bit, Steinbrenner was George Costanza's boss when he worked for the Yankees. The character was voiced by Larry David, and we only ever saw the back of his head.
Like the fictional Seinfeld character, the real Steinbrenner had a reputation for being a bit of a loose cannon. He fired, hired (and occasionally rehired) people constantly; he meddled in on-field decisions; he forced players to trim their hair and shave their beards. He was also fined for illegal contributions to Richard Nixon's presidential campaign, though he was later pardoned by Ronald Regan in one of the final acts of his presidency. And in the early nineties he was banned for life from baseball for hiring someone to dig up dirt on a player who was suing the team in a contract dispute (once again he was "pardoned" - three years later his suspension was lifted).
Under Steinbrenner, the Yankees went from a team in deep decline (at one infamous game they had only 413 fans in the 67,000 seat stadium) to a team that's had a ton of on-field success, that pulls in huge crowds, and that is one of the wealthiest and best-known sports franchises in the world.
Steinbrenner was always larger than life, and was always in the media spotlight. He even managed to steal the show in death: he died just a dozen hours before baseball's All-Star game was played, ensuring that once again, he was at the centre of it all.
Nicely written!
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