As the daughter of a die-hard New York Yankees fan, George Steinbrenner was a man who loomed large in my childhood. As a little girl, I knew him to be a man who was fiery, passionate and single-minded. He had one goal — to win — and he achieved that goal like no other.
So it is with great sadness that I learned of Stenbrenner’s passing this morning, just days after his 80th birthday on July 4th. According to ESPN, the man who has helmed the Yankees since 1973 died in Tampa, Fla. of a massive heart attack.
“He was an incredible and charitable man,” his family said in the statement, noting that “first and foremost he was devoted to his entire family.”
“He was a visionary and a giant in the world of sports,” the statement continued. “He took a great but struggling franchise and turned it into a champion again.”
What seemed to make Steinbrenner stand out among other baseball owners is he appeared to be as passionate about the game as any fan. Sure, he was a businessman, but his focus was on winning the World Series rather than simply raking in dollars. In the end, he achieved both. He spent big bucks on the best players, who in turn won championships, which in turn helped make the team extremely profitable. In all, he presided over seven world championships and 11 American League pennants.
And because of his dedication to the game and his fiery temper — which flared most when the team was losing — he became an icon not only to Yankees fans in New York, but to nearly all Americans — including Seinfeld fans, who got a glimpse of the owner after George Costanza finagled a job with the team.
Yet as hard as Steinbrenner might have been on his team when they weren’t winning championships, “The Boss” had a soft, a deeply charitable side. According to WTSP in Tampa, where Steinbrenner lived for decades when not in New York, he was known for his dedication to disadvantaged children.
“I know how the rest of the country views Steinbrenner, but he’s very important to our city,” Tampa Mayor Pam Lorio told the station. “He’s been incredibly generous to charity, especially with children.
In addition to the charities he has supported through the New York Yankees Foundation, Steinbrenner was exceedingly charitable on his own. He paid hospital bills for kids with cancer. In 1981, he started the Gold Shield Foundation to offer financial assistance for college to the children of police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. Each year, he pays for the Florida Orchestra to perform a Christmas concert for 2,000 kids and he has given so generously to the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa and a pediatric emergency and trauma center at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital that they were renamed in his honor.
“Here we think of him as one of us, a man with a big heart,” Mayor Lorio also said. “If you started listing all the things that he does for our community, it would take a long time.”
If we listed the impact Steinbrenner has made not only on baseball, but on American popular culture and worthy causes, it would take anyone a very long time.
Today the Yankees and all of America has lost an icon. RIP George Steinbrenner.
Photo via Yankees.com.