Well, that’s one way to look at it
So here we see a doofus who doesn’t have a whole lot of perspective or understanding of baseball history. He’s telling us about George Steinbrenner, who — if you haven’t heard — no longer exists. And he’s getting pretty much everything wrong. Such as:
It was never easy to be George Steinbrenner, spending all that money, ranting in the parking lots, spoiling Thanksgiving dinners as he delivered holiday pink slips to helpless minions who somehow failed his whims. It was even harder to wake up the next morning and face the carnage, explain it away and keep shoving forward. Which is why there will never be another George Steinbrenner.
George Steinbrenner was (if you can believe this) a shipwright tycoon before he owned the New York Yankees. Did you pick banker? I picked banker. But, no — he owned a shipbuilding empire. But the point is: he was a successful business executive who clawed his way up from, if not exactly the bottom, at least the lower portion. That’s the sort of thing people like that do, Les. Yeah, it’s not easy, but it’s hardly an ability unique to George Steinbrenner. Lee Iacocca, just to pick a name at random, would have felt right at home with the spending and the hiring and the firing.
Times have changed. The world Steinbrenner came to dominate has shifted. His rise to power came at a fortuitous confluence of a crumbling New York desperate for a hero and the advent of free agency, which Steinbrenner exploited ruthlessly.
Sure. Also CBS was selling the Yankees for ten million dollars because they weren’t profitable. That’s probably a bigger fortuitous occurrence than crumbling desperation of the magical New York energy appleness.
Even after he served his suspension from baseball in the early 1990s and returned a supposedly changed man, he continued to buy titles until he outspent his rivals so much he had to build a new stadium to keep funding the machine.
I think the bit that he supposedly changed was the part about how he hired some people to slander a player he was mad at. I don’t recall his suspension being for signing too many free agents.
But chasing George proved futile to everyone else. Few owners could afford to spend like him. More and more, teams are spending on minor league systems and building through drafts. Yes, the Miami Heat just signed three superstars for more than $100 million each, but those deals were done within the constraints of the NBA salary cap, and they will be hit with a luxury tax for every dollar they overspend.
Unlike the Yankees, who never had to pay a luxury tax at all.
Lavish spending is out. When the NFL and its players union really get serious in negotiations, the topic will be just how much money the players can be expected to give back. The same goes for the NBA, where owners are demanding a hard salary cap.
What? You consider it a new development that owners want player salaries capped? Owners have always wanted player salaries capped, dumbneck — they’re the ones paying those salaries. The entire history of professional baseball is the history of a fight between owners, who want low salaries, and players, who want high salaries. Your implication that it’s only just recently occurred to anybody that it would rule to get the same thing for less money is downright weird.
There just isn’t room for a Steinbrenner anymore, other than his son Hal, who tries to run the Yankees the way his father did.
There isn’t room for a Steinbrenner, except for this Steinbrenner, for whom there is room. Good argument. And, hey, what about Hank? Is there room for him, too? Or are you officially giving him the toss?
But even Hal Steinbrenner shuns the spotlight. This is the way now.
Well, no, it’s not "the" way so much as it’s just Hal’s way. That’s why most people think the new owner is Hank Steinbrenner, who you appear not to have heard of — Hank is the loudmouthed guy with the ponytail who distracts you while Hal does the real work. Do you see?
Sports commissioners, fearful of having their power eclipsed, push away flamboyant owner prospects.
Again: do you know anything about baseball history? Owners and commissioners have always fought over power. Hell, that’s the whole reason the commissioner’s office was created: to rein in the power of strong owners.
Major League Baseball has been working for months to keep Mark Cuban from the game despite the fact he would instantly become one of its best owners.
Well, I guess 36 is still technically "months," but most people would describe that as "years," Les. Or did you really not hear about it until recently?
Also: one of the best owners? Instantly? You’re sure of this? Is that because he’d give everybody free broadcast.com t-shirts?
Steinbrenner probably wouldn’t get through the door today if he came to Bud Selig with a winning bid for a baseball team in hand.
Steinbrenner wouldn’t have gotten through the door thirty years ago if he hadn’t sworn up and down to be a silent partner and not do all the things he almost immediately started doing.
The current model for an extrovert owner might well be Ted Leonsis, the former AOL head who turned the Washington Capitals into a winner and has now bought full control of the Washington Wizards as well. Leonsis is rich and powerful. He thrives on attention and bristles at criticism.
Yeah, I can see how the model has changed. That doesn’t sound like Steinbrenner at all.
However, his frustrations are not broadcast in great proclamations like Steinbrenner but in subtle blog posts.
Wait, that’s it? That’s the secret? If Steinbrenner had just started a blog instead of giving interviews to the Post, he’d have been totally cool with you?
Instead of purchasing stars, he would build them on his own, drafting them and nourishing them. He would win over time. Not right away.
Well, sure. That’s a good fallback when your attempt to win right away fails. Which Leonsis’ did.
Nothing like George Steinbrenner, who died on Tuesday at 80.
For the last quarter of the last century, Steinbrenner changed sports.
But his era is gone now.
Ownership is a different ballgame.
His legacy is safe.
There will never be another one like him.
Yeah, you read that right, reading fans: he ends this article with six consecutive one-sentence paragraphs. Sportswriters are really gay for those, but this is pretty egregious even by those standards. And, hey Les, I hate to be confrontational, but I really don’t think George Steinbrenner’s legacy is in any danger, whether or not Mark Cuban ever manages to buy a sports team.
