by Bill Madden
wife-trading incident, 48
Williams, Bernie, xi, 340, 348, 379–81, 390, 394
Williams, Dick, 52–59
Williams, Edward Bennett, 62–63, 66, 90, 188
Williams College, 24–29
Winfield, Dave. See also David M. Winfield Foundation batting of, 244
batting of, for Toronto Blue Jays, 340
conflict of, with George Steinbrenner on drug-testing policy, 248–51
dispute between George Steinbrenner and, over Winfield Foundation, 263–64, 288–91, 299–300
ejection of, for fighting, 226
embarrassment of, about World Series performance, 210–11
Lou Piniella and, 261
signing of, 189–94
George Steinbrenner and, 401
trade of, 270, 303–4, 310
Winkles, Bobby, 58
Witkind, Charlotte, 8
Witt, Mike, 303–4
Wolf, Warner, 408–9
Wong, Howard, 162, 176
Woodward, Woody, 265, 267–68, 270, 366
World Series announcements during, 364–65
championships of, by Lou Piniella’s Cincinnati Reds, 281
championships of, by Yankees, xii, 125–28, 158–59, 205–11, 372–73, 379, 391, 393, 427–28
loss of 1976, to Cincinnati Reds, 103
loss of 1981, to Los Angeles Dodgers, 205–11
loss of 2001, to Arizona Diamondbacks after September 11 terrorist attacks, 394–95
loss of 2003, to Florida Marlins, 402
George Steinbrenner’s apology for team’s performance in 1981, 209–11
Wynegar, Butch, 234, 263
Wynn, Jimmy, 118
Yankee Club dining room banning of Joan Steinbrenner from, 32
Reggie Jackson and, 106
Yankee Global Enterprises, 390
YankeeNets LLC, 387–90
Yankees. See New York Yankees
Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network, 389–90, 412–13, 423–24
Yankees Magazine, 280
Yankee Stadium attendance figures, 178, 278, 416
banning of Joan Steinbrenner from Yankee Club dining room in, 32
Yogi Berra’s refusal to return to, 247
building of new, 415–17
first year in renovated, 100
Reggie Jackson and Yankee Club dining room in, 106
kidnapping incident at, 220–21
Monument Park in, 170–71
national anthem singer, 410
organist, 26
promotions, 13
renovation of, 68, 81
repairing of disintegrating, 378
George Steinbrenner’s appearances in new, 425–28
Yankee Years, The (Torre), 379, 398–99. See also Torre, Joe
Yawkey, Jean, 396
Yogi Berra Day, 390
Yogi Berra Museum, 382–83
Young, Bill, 348
Young, Dick, ix, 48, 94–96, 123, 126–27, 167, 180, 205, 207–8, 237–38, 252–53, 264
Zieg, Elizabeth Joan. See Steinbrenner, Joan
Zieg, Harold and Jessie, 30, 173
Zimmer, Don, 183, 233, 365, 369–70
Notes and Acknowledgments
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK the more than 150 friends, associates, employees and former employees of George Steinbrenner who cooperated with me on this book. I understood when I took on this project that numerous authors through the years had made efforts to write biographies of Steinbrenner—or even proposed collaborating with him on an autobiography—only to be met with stiff resistance from Steinbrenner, his family and the New York Yankees. Because of that, I am grateful to all of those who trusted me to portray them accurately and to tell the story of Steinbrenner as it was. I was fortunate in many cases to have had a relationship with the people I talked to—and to have been there for most of the events and anecdotes they related to me—which I’m sure contributed to that trust.
As such, I have tried to be faithful to the actual conversations that take place throughout this book, all of which were obtained from one or both of the people engaged in them or by someone who was a firsthand witness to them. In addition, all of the anecdotes included in this book had at least two sources.
It took three years to complete this project, and it could not have been accomplished without the assistance of so many people:
Moss Klein, my dear friend, previous coauthor and proofreader/fact-checker extraordinaire, who served as my administrator of accuracy.
Gabe Paul Jr., who generously afforded me access to his father’s diaries and tape-recorded accounts of his years with the Yankees—the mother lode of previously unmined background material that was such an important part of the first six chapters of the book.
Marty Appel, who provided historical insight and unyielding support and friendship, and whose Rolodex was an invaluable tool in the process of locating so many of the sources in this book.
Martin Dunn, editor-in-chief, and Leon Carter, sports editor, of the New York Daily News, who gave their full support to this project and afforded me the time to complete it.
Scott Browne, Ellen Locker, Jimmy Converso, Scott Widener, Kristina Bilello, Bruce Furman and Tony Rollo of the New York Daily News library, who tirelessly combed through the News’ archives for the historical news accounts that were the basis of the book, and for helping in the locating of a number of important people who were interviewed for the project.
Peter Edelman, Jo Barefoot and Angie Troisi of the New York Daily News photo department, who aided in the selection and procurement of most of the photos used in the book.
Murray Chass and Phil Pepe, highly accomplished baseball writers who provided insight on the subject in the early years, 1973–78, before I came on the Yankees beat.
Sean Forman, whose Baseball-Reference.com Web site was an invaluable source of information throughout the book.
Jeff Idelson, Jim Gates and Bill Francis of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, who made available all of their resources and gave of their time to help research a lot of the material used in the book.
Michael Margolis of the New York Yankees media relations department, who helped in the research of Yankees historical material.
Phyllis Merhige and Pat Courtney of Major League Baseball, who helped in the research of owners’ meetings and other MLB events that were pertinent to the book.
Bobby Goldwater, who served as both a source and a proofreader, and a valued friend and supporter.
Art Berke and Dave Kaplan of the Yogi Berra Museum, who supported and gladly served as “sounding boards” throughout the three years of working on this project.
Tom Villante, who provided insight on Major League Baseball television operations in the 1980s, as well as a couple of terrific anecdotes about CBS and Mike Burke.
Roseanne Miskau, Mike Burke’s former secretary, who was extremely helpful in putting me in touch with her former boss’s family and associates.
Bruce Haims and the Burke family, who allowed me access to Mike Burke’s legal papers regarding the sale of the Yankees by CBS to George Steinbrenner.
Dick Quinn, Williams College sports information director, who provided research material from the subject’s time on the Williams College track team as well as the photo of the subject practicing the hurdles.
Lori DuBois and Linda Hall of the Williams College library, who helped in the procurement of materials from the school’s archives on the subject’s writings for the college newspaper.
And last, the three people who were most instrumental in making this book possible: David Hirshey, executive editor at HarperCollins, who believed in the project and that I was the person to do it; George Quraishi, my editor at HarperCollins, who performed his magic like a skilled surgeon in enabling me to tell the subject’s life story—which was substantial—as concisely as possible without losing any of the character; and Rob Wilson, my agent, who is a constant source of inspiration, encouragement and calm under fire.
Bibl
iography
Bashe, Philip. Dog Days: The New York Yankees’ Fall from Grace and Return to Glory, 1964–76. New York: Random House, 1994.
Burke, Michael. Outrageous Good Fortune. Boston: Little Brown, 1984.
Cramer, Richard Ben. DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000.
Falkner, David. The Last Yankee: The Turbulent Life of Billy Martin. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Gossage, Richard “Goose,” with Russ Pate. The Goose Is Loose. New York: Ballantine, 2000.
Hunter, Jim “Catfish,” with Armen Keteyian. Catfish: My Life in Baseball. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988.
Jackson, Reggie, with Mike Lupica. Reggie: The Autobiography of Reggie Jackson. New York: Villard, 1984.
Kuhn, Bowie. Hardball: The Education of a Baseball Commissioner. New York: Times Books, 1987.
MacPhail, Lee. My Nine Innings: An Autobiography of 50 Years in Baseball. Westport, Conn.: Meckler Books, 1989.
Madden, Bill, and Moss Klein. Damned Yankees: A No-Holds-Barred Account of Life with “Boss” Steinbrenner. New York: Warner Books, 1990.
Martin, Billy, with Phil Pepe. Billyball. New York: Doubleday, 1987.
Schaap, Dick. Steinbrenner! New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1982.
Tebbetts, Birdie, with James Morrison. Birdie: Confessions of a Baseball Nomad. Chicago: Triumph, 2002.
Torre, Joe, with Tom Verducci. Chasing the Dream: My Lifelong Journey to the World Series. New York: Bantam, 1997.
———. The Yankees Years. New York: Doubleday, 2009.
Torry, Jack. Endless Summers: The Fall and Rise of the Cleveland Indians. South Bend, Ind.: Diamond Communications Inc., 1995.
Williams, Dick, and Bill Plaschke. No More Mr. Nice Guy: A Life of Hardball. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1990.
Winfield, Dave, with Tom Parker. Winfield: A Player’s Life. New York: W. W. Norton, 1988.
Zimmer, Don, with Bill Madden. Zim: A Baseball Life. Kingston, N.Y.: Total/Sports Illustrated, 2001.
About the Author
For more than 30 years BILL MADDEN has covered the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball for the Daily News. The author of several books about the Yankees, Madden is also the 2010 recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s J. G. Taylor Spink Award. He lives in New Jersey.
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Copyright
STEINBRENNER. Copyright © 2010 by Bill Madden. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Madden, Bill.
Steinbrenner : the last lion of baseball / by Bill Madden.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-06-169031-0
1. Steinbrenner, George M. (George Michael), 1930– . 2. Baseball team owners—United States—Biography. 3. New York Yankees (Baseball team)—History. I. Title.
GV865.S79M33 2010
796.357092—dc22
[B] 2010007871
10 11 12 13 14 ID/RRD 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
EPub Edition © 2009 ISBN: 9780061992582
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