Bad times for the Yankees....first Bob Sheppard.....now Steinbrenner is in very critical condition

Yep,Just heard it on WFAN.Wish him and his family the best.

It is certainly a shame about both men who were such a huge part of the Yankees and, by extension, were a big part in feeding my passion for baseball. Both did have the good fortune of many, many years.

On the glass half full side.....I have heard that somehow Bob Sheppard will be part of the All Star game tonight. May only be for the intro of Derek Jeter, but perhaps more through some audio wizardry.

As for George, love him or hate him....he took whatever baseball would allow him to use as a tool to make the Yankees better. In some cases he may have stepped over the line and he certainly was not the kind of "boss" I would want to work for, but you cannot argue with the empire he turned the Yankees into. I saw him in Tampa this spring and he looked very frail. I hope he is not suffering.

Passed away.. ...

Hope this string of tragedies doesn't come in 3's like they always say they do...

RIP George....

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=5375561

Sad week. RIP George and Bob.

If I were Goose Gossage I'd be shi**ing myself

I took a pic with him when I was a kid.



R.I.P. He was a great guy and a great owner.

R.I.P to one of my favorite 'Seinfeld' characters ("You're not copus mentus...you've got some bats in the Belfry!", "Babe Ruth was a fat, old man with little girl legs. And here's something I just found out recently...he wasn't really a Sultan.")


Seriously...very few people have influenced the world of sports more than him. You have to give the man his due, most fans would want their team(s) to have an owner like him.

While he was owner,the Yankees have won 11 AL pennants and seven World Series titles

They are probably going to have a moment of silence for his passing at the start of the All Star game. His funeral is probably going to be really huge. I wonder if it will be televised.

He basicallly ran the franchise as a fan. That's why he made all the changes he did without thinking half of them through. Making money was secondary. Ultimately cable brought out the real big money making and high valuations, and Steinbrenner who was as great a business man as he was a yankee fan, seized it and knew he had the best franchise in the best possible location. I'm sure there are some that will say Steinbrenner had it made for him being in the most important marlet in MLB. But he obviously made it on his own and took advantage of the set-up NYC gave him. If you d'ont believe that then just take a good hard look at the failures the other NY team has endured.

The massive heart attack doesn't surprise me. Obviously he had either that or a stroke earlier that cased him to be come a shell of himself. Also he lived in a lot of stress, most of which he caused himself by thinking he should win every year and finding a need to apologize to the c ity and the fans whenever he didn't. When you think about it, that was crazy and what owner in sprts apologizes for not winning the championship every year?? Only one who lives in a lot opf stress to do so.

not to knock him since he just passed but what I will remember him for is that he ruined baseball

Steinbrenner was an incredible philanthropist and all he did was use the system to his advantage (and to the advantage of yankee fans).

People remember the loveable George but late 70's/80's was a different story.

Ken Phelps
Suspension from baseball
Billy
King George SI cover
Mattingly haircut


Some great George quotes

I will never have a heart attack. I give them.

I am dead set against free agency. It can ruin baseball.

I just won you a pennant


In the end, no one wanted to win more and to that we say George, rest in peace.

This is going to sound crass....but what the heck....

Steinbrenner, on top of being a good businessman, had a knack for the headline. Clearly he loved the backpage and took every chance he could to get there. Only he could find a way to wind his way to an All Baseball audience around the world on his day of passing. Even in his last breath, he finds the biggest stage.

What do Billy Martin, Thermon Munson, and George Steinbrenner have in common?

Three things: a coffin, a hearse, and a grave.

I've been out-crassed

i try. im sure there will be better

where is lab when you need him

ehhh
http://www.theonion.com/articles/george-st...rperform,17710/

Upon arriving at the Pearly Gates...Steinbrenner immediately tried to fire St. Peter.

...and hired Billy Martin to replace him

No. When he crossed the Pearly Gates, the Boss met the Real BOSS.

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/07/13/geor...in&hpt=Sbin

The Steinbrenner we saw of the last 10 years was a mellowed out shell of the "real" Steinbrenner. Almost all the articles I read today or stories I saw on TV glorified the man and are based on recent Steinbrenner years. I used to be a die hard Yankee fan but it's the Steinbrenner of this article that turned me off and for 25+ years of the 37 years he owned the team this was the real George Steinbrenner. Basically a man who treated his employees as disposable assets once they couldn't get him what he wanted. The real George was a very insecure man who made dreadful mistakes in his treatment of people, didn't realize the psychological damage of his actions to those people, and then later felt guilty about them and tried to make it up to them with money. The firings of Dick Howser and Yogi along with him trying to dig up dirt on Winfield are among the worst things any owner ever did. He also fired secretaries because they lost a phone call or got him the wrong lunch even if it was due to a technicality rather than a mistake they made. I remember reading a story linking Steinbrenner's actions to the famous fictional character JR Ewing of Dallas. That's how bad he came across for most of his tenure with the Yankees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/b...ml?ref=baseball

Thats not both sides of the story. I am not pretending to like or endorse the way he treated the people in his employ. However, his philanthropy extended way, way before that last 10 years. Go to Tampa and see how he is revered for what he has meant to that community. He has put tens millions of dollars into many organizations. http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/national/Stei...131279037630627 He lead the turnaround of the US Olympic Committee and allowed our athletes the ability to compete on a much more level playing field. He paid for kids medical bills, college educations, etc. That wasn't all in the last 10 years.

Any picture of this guy clearly has two sides. Was the charitable side driven by the egomaniacal side? Don't know. But, does it really matter? Regardless of "why" both sides existed and no one can deny that he did a lot of good by a lot of people.

You are making the asumption that the philantropic side of this was Steinbrenner himself. My bet is that was his wife. You can't be kind to people with chaitable donations and then treat employees like garbage. Those are irreconcilable differences unless the person has a split personality or the charity giving is solely for tax writeoffs. Maybe he did have a split personality, we all know he was unexplainable at times, but my bet is his wife had a lot to do with the charity side.

While she may have been very involved, so was he. He not only invested money, but also time. These stories that are coming out all talk about him being directly engaged. He wasn't just signing checks.

From all the stories i have heard he really did seem to have a very personable and genuine side to him. I have to believe the philanthropic stuff came from the heart. Call me naive.

Interesting read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/business...ucky&st=cse