george

the sad death on tuesday morning of longtime new york yankees owner george steinbrenner sparked a torrent of emotions and memories.

perhaps no person has left a larger imprint on any sport than george steinbrenner.

the yankees owner since 1973, passed away at the age of 80 in a tampa hospital.

george purchased the yankees at that time from cbs(one of the few entities ever to lose money by purchasing and holding a sports franchise).

cbs owned the yankee from'65 to '72, with mike burke as club president.

steinbrenner made the purchase for $8.75 million(cbs , 7 years earlier had paid $10 milllion at purchase).

in 37 years(forbes magazine reports) he parlayed the purchase into what is now estimated to be $1.5 billion, a pretty good investment.

he paid the first big free agent contract, $23 million, to outfielder dave winfield, in 1980.

chicago cubs manager, longtime yankee player and coach lou pinella, at the all star game, mentioned that when he was 38 and long past his prime, he didnt expect anything in a new contract, while asking for a 2 year deal. steinbrenner said to him, "i'm not going to give you a 2 year deal, but a 3 year deal(baseball contracts are guaranteed), and promised him that pinella would one day manage the yankees, and he did.

with all the good things, george was a considered a very rash individual. many referred to him as a scumbag.

he was convicted of a felony back in the nixon presidency era. he was indicted on 14 criminal counts in 1974, and pled guilty to making illegal contributions to nixon's reelection campaign. and a felony chaarge of obstruction of justice. steinbrenner was fined $15,000 and his firm(american shipbuilding) $20,000.

in 1974, baseball commissioner bowie kuhn suspended steinbrenner from baseball for 2 years, but later reduced the amount to 15 months.
he returned to the yankees in 1976. u.s. president ronald reagan pardoned steinbrenner in 1989 in one of the final acts of his presidency.

he is famous for hiring and firing manager billy martin 5 different times.
in july'78, martin said of the tumultuous steinbrenner-player reggie jackson relationship, "one's a born liar, the other was convicted."

steinbrenner, as a young man, went to culver military academy in indiana. his dad was a fine high hurdler, and so was george.
the elder steinbrenner owned an iron ore shipping business in cleveland.
george got in to the pro basketball business in the '60s, owning the cleveland pipers of the aba, the then unsuccessfully tried to buy the tribe,
his partners, in purchasing the yankees, were john delorean, nelson bunker hunt, lester crown.

when you like going to a game and just enjoy it, it's hard to dig into the detail, what's behind it, and when you unwrap anything, behind the wrapping, it's not so hot. there is always somebody being had.

major league baseball players were THE PROPERTY of their parent clubs, forever. now it's just a little better, although free agancy requires 6 years of major league service, attained by but a few.

george is estimated worth $1.5 billion(he gave much away).
the deal on the new yankees stadium boggles the mind.
last year, the federal estate tax rate was 45%, next year 55%, this year 0. the owners of the yankees really lucked out on the estate tax.
steinbrenner was a resident of the state of florida, which has no income and no estate tax. george was considered a resident of florida.
new york state has a 16% estate tax, which he is not liable for. george gets the big zip-zip on taxes this year. he's got some incredibly lucky kids.
several major franchises have been sold to pay huge estate taxes.
george is the 3rd or 4th u.s. billionaire to die this year.

congress is trying to put together an estate tax bill retroactive to this year.

for tax purposes, yankee offices are located in tampa. how ignorant is it of new york state to GIVE that guy a stadium worth $1.5 billion, although they charged him $500,000 and a ridiculous low rental rate of $50,000 a year, while he claims to be a florida resident.
how do you do that for a guy who is not even a redifent of your state?

this is fiscal insanity.
one can only reflect on how the cleveland sports community would be different had steinbrenner been allowed to purchase the cleveland indians in the '70s.
(hey miss holly, writing is hard. besides, folks only look at the pictures).