The great Yankee baseball owner George Steinbrenner passed away this morning.
The 80-year-old owner earned a special place in baseball history after he purchased the ailing New York Yankees in the 1970s. The owner is mentioned in more than 100 baseball books for sale on Amazon. Most recently, Bill Madden published Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball in May 2010. As of this 10:00 am EST writing, the book had an Amazon ranking of #1,027 out of all books.
Here’s more about Steinbrenner, from the biography: “Over the next four decades, Steinbrenner’s tumultuous reign included his epic battles with Billy Martin, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, even beloved Yankee captain Derek Jeter. His ruthless and free-spending tactics made him a lightning rod for controversy but they also paid off: Steinbrenner’s Yankees have won seven championships and remain the gold standard in all sports. In the last few years, with his health declining, the Boss ceded control of the team to his sons, but not before lording over the team’s historic transition from the House That Ruth Built to the House That George Built.”