Mike Vaccaro Credit: Mike Vaccaro
By Michael Grant on

There has never been anyone quite like George Steinbrenner, a.k.a. The Boss.

Steinbrenner’s ownership group purchased the New York Yankees from CBS in 1973 for $8.8 million and helped transform the team into one of the most valuable franchises worldwide, with a current valuation of $8.2 billion. The late Steinbrenner was both famous and infamous, making him the most well-known sports owner in America during his lifetime.

His son Hal is now in charge, but he hasn’t been as successful as his father. George won seven titles in 37 years. Hal, who became the principal owner in 2010, is still seeking his first.

We recently caught up with New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro, whose new book, The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner, is out now. 

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: Why should someone buy your book?

Mike Vaccaro: “There have been plenty of books about Steinbrenner written in the last 50 years. What I wanted to do was introduce a different generation of Yankees fans to the craziness of the Steinbrenner era. If you’re under 35 or 40, you really don’t remember what George was like in his prime. You remember this kindly, avuncular figure who would get chanted at in Yankee Stadium, and everybody would always say, ‘Thank you, George.’ Even some older guys who know better, with selective amnesia, don’t remember that much or don’t want to remember it much. The early feedback I’ve gotten from people is: ‘I forgot just how crazy it was.'”

How did Steinbrenner save the Yankees?

“The group Steinbrenner put together was not the highest bidder for the Yankees in ’73, but it promised not to move them. There was a lot of talk about the Yankees following the New York Giants out to Jersey. There was talk about New Orleans because the Superdome was being built, and that was a distinct possibility. But Steinbrenner was willing to commit to not leaving Yankee Stadium. So, when he went to see William Paley, the CBS chairman, Paley wanted desperately not to be known as the guy who chased the Yankees out of town. It mattered to him that the new ownership group would keep them in New York.”

How big a risk was this for Steinbrenner?

“It was really not a lot of risk for him because he only put up $168,000 of his own money. The total purchase price was reported at $10 million, a $3 million loss for CBS. That’s the only time in the last 70 years that a baseball team has been sold for a loss. But after they sold the parking garages back to the city, it wound up being $8.8 million, which is really remarkable. There were 12 partners, and the others gave a lot more than George did. George was the guy who put them all together.”

How did he characterize his ownership style?

He was the guy willing to be the front-facing voice of the team, even though on the first day, at the first press conference, he famously said that we planned absentee ownership, which, as I told him later, was either the greatest lie in the history of sports or the greatest irony. One of the two, depending on how you want to phrase it.

What kind of state were the Yankees in?

“The fact of the matter is, the Yankees were a dying franchise. They hadn’t been in the playoffs in almost 10 years. Yankee Stadium was a dilapidated mess. The South Bronx had its issues. And the Mets were clearly the No. 1 team in town. I mean, it was not even close. The Mets had the better TV deal, had the better radio deal. They had a really good team. In fact, even in George’s first year, the Mets went to the World Series. But he came in and said, ‘We’re going to be back in the World Series in three years. And sure enough, the Yankees were.”

Can you give an example of how George Steinbrenner was a constant fixture in the New York City tabloids?

“George Steinbrenner was a man who blackmailed his best player to try to ruin him. He hired a guy like Howie Spira, this low-level hustler, a guy right out of a Damon Runyon novel. You start exploring that aspect of it, that’s what I really want to try and get across, this is a guy that for 37 years was on the back page 80% of his life. It was just remarkable to go back and look at that.”

How would you describe Hal Steinbrenner?

“Hal described himself to me while I was talking to him for this book. The one thing he said was, ’My dad was all about the back page, but I’m more comfortable in a back room where all the deals are being made, and just let somebody else be our spokesman.’ That’s why with Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone, you’ll hear from them a lot more than you ever will from Hal.”

What annoys Hal about being compared to his father?

“Nothing drives him crazier than when people think he doesn’t care. He burns to win. He really does. I’ve talked to him enough to believe that. It’s not like they cheap out on payroll. They’re always in the $300 million range, and they’re going to stay that way. No one’s going to hold a telethon for the Yankees or for Steinbrenner, but they’re not the Dodgers. They’re not the Mets.”

How do you think the Yankees would be different if George Steinbrenner were still around?

“If 55-year-old George were running the team now, there’s no question in my mind that he would have fired Aaron Boone maybe two or three times. Boone might be the manager right now, but it might be on his third tenure, like he did with Billy Martin. The same thing with Cashman, frankly. It was probably against his nature to go so long with Joe Torre and Brian Cashman when he was still living, but even he couldn’t fire guys when they were winning the World Series for you every year.”

While he’s only 56, looking ahead over the long term, is there a natural successor to Hal?

“There’s been no announcement. It seems that Steve Swindal Jr. is going to be the heir apparent. (The grandson of George Steinbrenner, the nephew of Hal Steinbrenner) is very involved in the team. It is very much a family business. It looks like he’s emerging as the likely one right now. Joel Sherman’s really the only guy who’s talking to (Swindal Jr.) on the record. (Swindal Jr.) said, ‘In a perfect world, we don’t worry about this for 20 more years because you want my uncle to do this job for as long as he intends to do it. Hal’s a pretty youthful 56, so I think he plans on being on the job for a while.”

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.

View all posts by Michael Grant