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Steinbrenner Reaches Top of Seniority List
Topic Started: Jan 19 2005, 12:59 PM (34 Views)
Mantlemurcer
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Steinbrenner Reaches Top of Seniority List
By MURRAY CHASS

Published: January 19, 2005



 

GEORGE STEINBRENNER is right where he wants to be, and Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright had nothing to do with it. George Steinbrenner is No. 1.

With the owners' approval of the sale of the Milwaukee Brewers last week, Steinbrenner became the senior owner in Major League Baseball.

None other than Commissioner Bud Selig confirmed that development. "He is the senior owner in baseball today," Selig said.

A case could be made that Steinbrenner became No. 1 in 1998, when Selig became commissioner, but the Selig interests continued to own and operate the Brewers until Mark Attanasio became the owner last week.

Steinbrenner is not likely to walk around with his right index finger raised in the air, but he would be justified in doing so because he has outlasted or outlived the owners who operated the 23 other teams when Steinbrenner and his partners bought the Yankees for $10 million (actually a net of $8.6 million) in 1973.

Steinbrenner initially owned far less than 50 percent of the team, but he was the managing partner, which means he ran the team and made all of the decisions. John McMullen, an early limited partner in the Yankees ownership, aptly characterized the role of Steinbrenner's limited partners with a memorable remark in 1979: "There's nothing more limited than a limited partner in the Yankees."

Steinbrenner bought the Yankees 32 years ago this month. I was there the first day, and I am still here. I have known Steinbrenner longer than I have known my wife.


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When Steinbrenner bought the Yankees, the major league ownership roster read like a who's who of baseball club owners. Among the names on that roster, besides Selig, were Tom Yawkey, John Fetzer, Calvin Griffith, Ewing Kauffman, Gene Autry, Charlie Finley, Jerry Hoffberger, Walter O'Malley, Horace Stoneham, Philip Wrigley, Gussie Busch, Joan Payson, Bob Carpenter, John Galbreath, Charles Bronfman and Judge Roy Hofheinz.

At his first owners meeting, Steinbrenner assured his new friends that Mike Burke would run the Yankees, that he, George, was in the shipping industry and had no time to run the team on a daily basis. He made the same declaration at his first news conference. But Mike Burke didn't last long, and neither did Steinbrenner's private and public assurance.

Steinbrenner doesn't go to many Yankees road games anymore, but he used to go to Milwaukee often, hoping to see his team beat Selig's team.

"I wasn't a good sport when things weren't going well," Selig acknowledged, recalling one game that he watched with Steinbrenner. "We were in my box, and I was railing, slamming doors. He said at one point: 'The world thinks you're this nice guy and I'm this miserable demanding person. Just listen to you. If I said all those things, I don't know what would happen.' "

Then there was the day when Selig was honored on the field before the game. "I came back to the box," Selig related, "and he said, 'If I went on the field to accept an award, there would be two weeks worth of garbage on the field.' "

There also was the day when Steinbrenner was sitting in Selig's glass-enclosed box and reporters wanted to talk to him. "Tell them I'm not here," Steinbrenner told the team's public relations man while reporters watched from outside the box.

Steinbrenner will be pleased to know that Selig still has a gift the Yankees' owner gave him.

"I wear an old T-shirt that George gave me," Selig said. "There was a dispute about Bowie Kuhn when he was commissioner, and we weren't on the same side. One day at a meeting George said, 'I got something for you.' He had a shirt made up. On one side it said, 'Bowie's bobos.' The other side was 'Selig' with a one. I was clearly the No. 1 bobo."



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Venom
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Enough of this bullsh*t, start spring training!!
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Mantlemurcer
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Rob :-|
Jan 19 2005, 12:00 PM
Enough of this bullsh*t, start spring training!!

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