On the day we celebrate the best players in Major League Baseball, we're left to mourn the loss of perhaps its greatest owner. George Steinbrenner passed this morning from a massive heart attack. If you're not a Yankee fan, you hate the Yankees. Sometimes that hatred spewed past the logo right into the lap of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. But as I always said to those foolish enough to say they hate the man and not the logo: You just wish Steinbrenner owned your team.
It would have had to be a massive heart attack to end such a full life. The heart Steinbrenner showed to the community of Tampa was always just that, massive. Steinbrenner may have owned a team in New York, but he resided and spent most of his time here in Tampa. He gave so much to this community it's no wonder why there were so many Tampa natives who were Yankees fans until the Rays came to town.
I'm reminded of a Yankees employee I met not long after moving to Tampa. I asked him what George was like because of the larger-than-life image and Seinfeld character he was often portrayed as. He said, "to know George is to love George. Yes, he loves baseball, but he loves people and life that much more. Working for the Yankees and getting to know the real George Steinbrenner is one of the true great gifts of my life."
This article appears in Jul 8-14, 2010.