George Steinbrenner - Dead

[mrbig1]

The man wanted to win. What's wrong with that? I wish he had been our owner.

[Old#5fan]

The man wanted to win. What's wrong with that? I wish he had been our owner.

There is plenty wrong with it when you push it so much that you ruin the very game itself.

[RShack]

And he always gave his fans great summers, every year.

No he didn't. That's what everybody thinks now, but it's not true. In fact, he presided over the longest streak of no WS appearances in the entire history of the MFY's. Then he finally learned to (almost) butt out and let baseball people (mostly) run things. Lotsa people hated him for that stretch of no flags, but nobody remembers it now...

EDIT: Sorry, don't mean to diss the guy... but he did have his ups and downs as an owner.

[backwardsk]

There is plenty wrong with it when you push it so much that you ruin the very game itself.

If you say the game is ruined, why do you follow it?

Baseball is NOT ruined.

[DrungoHazewood]

I don't give a damn if he's dead or alive he ruined the game of major league baseball.

Steinbrenner was just the logical continuation of the process set up in the very earliest days of MLB, in the robber baron era. The owners of the 1800s set up the foundations of Major League Baseball to try to monopolize on high caliber baseball. They set up the system of territorial rights that allows teams to keep out competition, they kept their leagues closed with high barriers to entry, and the bigger market owners used their exclusive rights to build up revenues their competition couldn't hope to approach. Then they bought up and paid off almost every minor league, finally crushing any last vestiges of competition.

It was more-or-less inevitable that free agency would come, and that the teams that were given bigger markets would take advantage.

Oh, and if baseball is ruined, it's been ruined almost from the start. The NY teams have always had huge advantages, and the Yanks of the 20s, 30s, and 50s dominated to a degree the current team envies.

[CrimsonTribe]

George was what he was, both good and bad. I don't really have a feeling one way or the other about him. With a few distinct exceptions, it's always sad to see someone go no matter who they are.

Not to be crass, but the tax lawyer in me is totally jazzed to see what happens with his estate. This is probably one of the most exciting developments in estate planning in like... ever.