George Steinbrenner

American baseball franchise ownerr, the owner of the New York Yankees. In 1973, George Steinbrenner was chairman and chief executive officer of American Ship Building when he headed up a group that purchased the New York franchise from CBS for $10 million. During his first news conference as one of the group owners of the team, he stated that the group "planned absentee ownership as far as running the Yankees was concerned." Actuality, he did continue to build ships but he was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an absentee owner. Over the span of his 25 years, he made 21 managerial changes, fired a large group of coaches and front-office personnel, had confrontations with a number of players, and gave everyone else something to talk about. Steinbrenner was definitely not laughing in 1990, however, when baseball commissioner Fay Vincent ordered him to surrender his job due to dealings with a small-time gambler; he was reinstated as owner in 1993. Despite all of the controversy surrounding his ownership, he has been instrumental in helping to lead the Yankees to three World Series victories, as well as five pennants.

Steinbrenner consistently exhibits pride in his team, the most historic franchise to ever play the game. Known as a tyrant, he does concede that he is a difficult boss to work for who expects a lot.

Steinbrenner suffered a heart attack and died in a Tampa, FL hospital on July 13, 2010.