George Steinbrenner was many things bad for baseball. He was a bully, a loudmouth, a media whore, and he knew nothing about the game that could qualify his opinion as anything more than that of a spoiled child. In addition, he was suspended early in his tenure for giving illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon, and in 1990 he agreed to resign as the Yankees' managing general partner because of his involvement with noted gambler Howard Spira and the disgusting Dave Windfield incident (George would eventually worm his way through the loopholes and get back in the driver's seat a few years later). A nice guy George wasn't.
However, the one thing that always seemed to justify Steinbrenner's boorish behavior was that he was always willing to spend whatever it took to win and he always had good baseball people who knew how to spend his money wisely, if not efficiently. As the outrageous contracts in baseball have continued over the years it must be pointed out that Steinbrenner was the one who started it all in the mid '70s by signing Catfish Hunter and later Reggie Jackson to the biggest contracts ever to that point.
As he got older and mellowed, George actually allowed Joe Torre to stick around for 12 years, with the resulting stability rewarded with six pennants and four world championships. However, when Son of George took over the megaphone last year, one of the first things he did was kick Torre out despite the amazing job Torre did in leading the Yankees back from a terrible start. Hank (as well as everyone in the free world) knew Torre would refuse his contract "offer" and now the new Joe, Girardi, finds himself the manager of a franchise with some serious troubles on the horizon, on and off the field.
It's more than certain at this early stage of this new era that it's going to rival the incompetent CBS ownership the Yankees suffered through in the late 1960s. But it could get much, much worse too, because by tearing down The House That Ruth Built and trading in a huge part of Yankee tradition in exchange for high-priced luxury boxe$, the Steinbrenners could be creating The Curse of the Bambino Vol. II. Yankee Stadium is hallowed ground and is by far the most imposing home field advantage in all of sports. It doesn't matter how magificent the new stadium will be; it won't have that same aura that intimidates even the most jaded veteran players. Pointing to the stadium's age is a copout. Fenway and Wrigley are older, half the size and any problems those parks may have certainly isn't affecting attendance. Red Sox and Cub fans love their ballparks and sell out virtually every game. Yankee fans love Yankee Stadium and have had every right to be proud of it. It's just as much a part of Yankee tradition as Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, 39 pennants and 26 World Series championships.
The new Yankee Stadium will be just another home field advantage like every other ballpark. The thrill of playing in this stadium won't have the allure that the old stadium did, and that, as well as Hank's lunacy, could drive more free agents away because, unlike in the past, the Mets now have just as much money to spend as the Yankees do, as the Carlos Beltran and Johan Santana deals prove. Brian Cashman is one of the top GMs in baseball and he's going to take the fall, but try as he will, Hank will never be able to talk any competent, self-respecting baseball executive into working for a maniac like him. It hasn't worked for Peter Angelos in Baltimore, has it?
So dig in and prepare yourselves, Yankee fans. The era of Hanky's Yankees is here and it's going to be a long, bumpy ride down the mountain. Years from now you can point to the Joe Torre situation as when the end of the current Yankee dynasty began. The era of Hanky's Yankees is going to drown this franchise.
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