Friday, May 25, 2007

Ack! Steinbrenner

No doubt The Boss is a maverick. His penchant for buying players (some might argue, pennants and perhaps championships) is undisputedly a point of derision. Lord knows he’s been the target for many of my venomous outbursts. His personality, position and some of his inexplicable actions regarding players and managers will always be cause for a certain amount of criticism and second-guessing.

On the other hand, I have to wonder what baseball would be like without George. I think some of his leadership (albeit firm-handed and financially leveraged) allows him to say things like “he’s a good Yankee player”, and “He knows how to compete like a Yankee”, or “If he wants to be a Yankee, then he has to live up to the Yankee standards”. He has set a clear set of standards for his players and building a winning organizaiton. Not only is George an indelible part of the Yankee BRAND, but he is also (to a degree) the embodiment of some of Baseball’s rich heritage, tradition, and lore.

We know his players have to be up-standing citizens or they’re gone. They are summarily admonished for public outbursts and/or any sort of unprofessional public display or activity. They know they have to be clean-cut and professional or their gone. They know they have to produce, or their gone. And most importantly, they have to win, or they're gone.
But there must be a compassionate side to George as well. I believe his players are asked (if not strongly encouraged) to perform hours of public service and most do. And wasn't it The Boss who (rightly or wrongly) gave Dwight Gooden a second chance when he was in legal trouble (or was that Darryl Strawberry, I can't remember?). And there have been many times he has gone to bat (so to speak) to defend players and managers from the the axe and or pen of angry, impatient Yankee fans and media who are looking for a sacrificial dupe to assume the burdens and blame for loss and failure. I also can not deny that George does many postive things himself for charities and countless local causes, especially those that involve youth.

So yes, George Steinbrenner is a complex man. I still hope he loses, and at the same time I hope he uses his axe sparingly. But ironcially most of all, I hope he sticks around. Baseball fans need someone on the top of the industry’s financial mountain to criticize, to blame, to condemn, and to quietly envy for his power, influence and success in a sport I so thoroughly enjoy.

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