By James Heinz
(Steinbrenner Story – Chapter Fourteen)
His conviction got him suspended for two years from the thing he wanted most in life: owning and running a major league sports team.
Because this is an article about marine history, I will let this summation of his career as owner of the Yankees from his obituary on the Find A Grave website tell the tale:
“In 1973 he and a group of minority investors bought the Yankees from William S. Paley and the Columbia Broadcasting Corporation, which had been trying to sell the team since 1965. George Steinbrenner then infused a team that had a decade of little success with a new direction and uncompromising focus on winning, which he and fans had seen as part of the long Yankee tradition that had fallen by the wayside under CBS ownership.
“He authorized paying large salaries to top free agents, and to paying exceptional home grown talent with long terms deals to keep a consistent winning structure and mentality in the organization. This formula produced for the Yankees 11 American League Pennants and 7 World Series championships (1977, 1978, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009). His ability to pay more than many other teams for talent, and his willingness to do so sparked much criticism during his tenure.”
The phrase “sparked much criticism” is a vast understatement. On Amazon you can buy a book entitled “101 Reasons to Hate George Steinbrenner”, which must be popular since there was only 1 left in stock, even though the subject of the book has been dead for thirteen years. Even though George III led the Yankees to glory, he still managed to alienate just about everybody in doing so.
Sports Illustrated summarized George III’s management style with this simple observation, “He changed managers 20 times in his first 23 seasons—firing and rehiring Billy Martin five times—and went through 13 publicity directors in 26 years.”
But George III had one cultural legacy left to establish outside of the world of professional sports. And that is where he passed into comedic legend on the classic sitcom “Seinfeld”. He “appeared” in 13 episodes, represented by an actor filmed from behind and voiced by comedian Larry David.
Seinfeldfandom.com describes the nature of Steinbrenner’s non-appearance appearances: “The Seinfeld Steinbrenner was known for bad decisions, such as cooking jerseys, threatening to move the team to New Jersey “just to upset people”, wearing Lou Gehrig’s uniform pants (and panicking about his nerve problems in the leg) and trading several players much to Frank Costanza’s dismay.”
In one episode, “The Wink”, the fake Steinbrenner mentions all of the people he fired, with him saying Billy Martin four times. He also mentions then-manager Buck Showalter, then quickly clams up about it. Though the show meant it as a joke, it turned out to be prophetic: just weeks after the episode aired, the real George Steinbrenner did not bring back Showalter as Yankees manager and replaced him with Joe Torre.
When George III read the script, he was at first outraged since he thought that the nebbish character of George Costanza had been named for him as an insult. After watching the show, he approved of his own portrayal, saying it was “unflattering but essentially accurate of the way I was then,” which means his portrayal on the show was not a parody, but a documentary.
He filmed three scenes for the Seinfeld finale, but they were cut when the episode ran too long. In the finale, the fake George Steinbrenner thought George Costanza was a Communist and got into an argument with a glass of water.
After George III’s death, Jerry Seinfeld remarked, “Who else could be a memorable character on a television show without actually appearing on the show? You felt George even though he wasn’t there. That’s how huge a force of personality he was.”
But the true legacy of any person is not the businesses that he owned but, in Gordon Lightfoot’s words, the faces and the names of the wives and the sons and the daughters. And that is George III’s true legacy.
George had married Elizabeth Joan (pronounced ‘Jo-Ann’) Zeig (1935-2018) in 1956. Wikipedia says of her, “she played basketball, football, and hockey”, the last two of which seem unlikely.
As her obituary says, “It couldn’t have been easy being married to ‘The Boss’”, which is probably the greatest understatement of all time. She is reported to have been a generous philanthropist. And in at least one instance, her judgement would prove much sounder than her husband’s.
In the 1980’s a professional gambler named Howard Spira approached Joan. Spira was apparently not a very lucky gambler, since he had to borrow $250,000 from the New York Mob to pay his debts, which led to him becoming an informant for the FBI against the Mob.
George III had been having problems with one of his players, Dave Winfield. Spira had worked as an unpaid employee for Winfield’s non-profit foundation. Spira told Joan that he had compromising information that proved that Winfield had been misusing donations to his foundation. Spira demanded $150,000, a job, and a room in a hotel owned by Joan to disclose this information.
Joan’s response was, “Howard, I think you need to see a doctor. I really do.”
Unfortunately, Spira did not go to see a doctor. Instead, he went to see George III, who jumped on Spira’s offer to find dirt on Winfield like a hungry tiger on a tethered goat. George III gave Spira $40,000.
And then Major League Baseball found out about George III and Spira. They Were Not Amused.
Ever since the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, in which players who associated with gamblers deliberately lost the first game of the World Series, baseball has had a strict rule forbidding players from associating with gamblers. And now they had a team owner associating with a gambler. As a result, George III received his second suspension from operating the Yankees, this one for three years.
George III and Joan had four children, fourteen grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.
In 2005 George III turned management of the Yankees over to his son in law, and in 2007 to his two sons.
The eldest son was Henry George “Hank” Steinbrenner III (1957-2020). He attended Culver Academy like his father. Wikipedia reports that “Hank, like his father, gained a reputation for being outspoken. He was at times criticized by many New York sports columnists for his off-the-cuff remarks that seemed to lack forethought.”
For this and other reasons, the other Major League Baseball owners would not accept Hank as George III’s replacement. Hank died of a liver condition in 2020.
Management of the Yankees passed to the second oldest son, Harold “Hal” Steinbrenner (b. 1969) who also attended the Culver Military Academy, and who remains the team’s managing partners. Perhaps somewhat disappointingly, unlike his father and brother, Hal does not seem to have said or done anything controversial in his life.
Daughter Jessica runs the Kinsman Stud Farm in Ocala, Florida, and writes children’s books.
Daughter Jennifer was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina. George III did not allow her to rise in the Yankee’s organization, because, he said, “I’ve always been a chauvinist.” She has been active in philanthropy. Jennifer has stated that the family plan to own the Yankees “for eternity.”
Of the 14 grandchildren, George Steinbrenner IV is also involved in sports, but of a type his grandfather did not enjoy. George IV runs an Indy car racing team.
It should be noted that George III gave extensively to charity, something he said that he was inspired to do by his mother.
In 2008 the Yankees renamed their spring training facility in Tampa, and home of their class A affiliate the Tampa Tarpons, George Michael Steinbrenner Field. George III, then in failing health, was able to attend the renaming ceremony. A life size bronze statue of George III, who was himself larger than life, was placed in front of the stadium in 2011.
In 2022 Forbes magazine estimated that the Yankees were worth $6 billion and were the most valuable baseball team, and the second most valuable sports franchise in the world after the Dallas Cowboys. Forbes goes on to say, “Since 1998, when Forbes started publishing sports team valuations, the Yankees have appreciated at a nearly 1,560% clip, well above the league average of 970% and the S&P 500’s performance of 180%.”
In 2009, George Steinbrenner III was worth an estimated $1.15 billion. Not bad for someone who started his career selling eggs door to door.
On July 13, 2010, George Michael Steinbrenner III died at age 80 in a Tampa hospital after suffering a heart attack at his home. He probably described himself best: “Winning is the most important thing in my life, after breathing.”
____________________________________
James Heinz is the Wisconsin Marine Historical Society’s acquisitions director. He became interested in maritime history as a kid watching Jacques Cousteau’s adventures on TV. He was a Great Lakes wreck diver until three episodes of the bends forced him to retire from diving. He was a University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee police officer for thirty years. He regularly flies either a Cessna 152 or 172.
GEORGE STEINBRENNER, GREAT LAKES SHIP OWNER – Chapter One
THE WRECK OF THE WESTERN RESERVE – Chapter Two
NUTTY PHIL AND THE WRECK OF THE ONOKO – Chapter Three
SOPHIA MINCH AND THE WRECK OF THE SOPHIA MINCH – Chapter Four
HENRY STEINBRENNER I, GORDON LIGHTFOOT, AND THE WRECK OF THE HENRY STEINBRENNER I – Chapter Five
THE WRECK OF THE ANNA C. MINCH – Chapter Six
HENRY STEINBRENNER II AND THE SHIPWRECK THAT BECAME A SHIP AGAIN – Chapter Seven
AN OLDIE BUT A GOLDIE: HENRY STEINBRENNER II AND THE J. B. FORD – Chapter Eight
HENRY III AND GEORGE STEINBRENNER III: LIKE FATHER LIKE SON – Chapter Nine
KINSMAN TRANSIT IS IN TROUBLE – Chapter Ten
GEORGE III SAVES KINSMAN TRANSIT – Chapter Eleven
GEORGE III SAVES AMERICAN SHIPBUILDING – Chapter Twelve
