Yankee Haters May Be at Loss Without Boss to Kick Around

George Steinbrenner is apparently out of baseball for good, and everyone seems happy about it. But I wonder if people appreciate the contributions the man made, including, of course, his efforts in the fine art of buffoonery. (What’s your favorite episode? Mine was the phantom elevator punch in Los Angeles, complete with bandaged hand and arm in a sling. Talk about your memories.)

Steinbrenner accomplished much in his 17 years in baseball. He hired Billy Martin as manager five times, which would be legacy enough for most men. He started the spiral of player salaries. He once made his front-office staff take lie-detector tests. And he got Yogi Berra angry. Come on, if Richard Nixon gets a library, George has to get one, too.

But when we think of Boss George years from now, we will remember him, and fondly, as the man who ruined the Yankees. Yankee haters will, anyway. The world, it seems to me, is divided between Yankee fans and Yankee haters. People who root for the Yankees also root for Donald Trump, or did until his recent problems. They’re every front-runner’s favorite team, unless it’s the Boston Celtics. Rooting for the Yankees is a lot like rooting for a bank. They were corporate America, back when that was a good thing to be.

Steinbrenner changed all that. One man did it. One man slipped cogs into every wheel of the once-feared machine, and he did it while everyone was watching. He made the pinstripes run soggy with tears.

That is a legacy and a half. He bought the House That Ruth Built and took a wrecking ball to it. Let’s hope he doesn’t buy the Sistine Chapel next. The bozos you have to wonder about are the people who appointed him to straighten out the U.S. Olympic effort. You can bet the Russians are hoping he doesn’t get suspended again.

Have you seen his team play? The Yankees are not simply in last place in the American League East. They are the worst team in baseball, and their prospects for immediate return to glory are only slightly greater than the Ottoman Empire’s.

Oh, but it was fun to watch. We sat laughing through 18 managerial changes, usually made after promising that he wouldn’t and often resulting in a TV commercial with Billy Martin. There were 13 general managers and more pitching coaches than anyone has ever bothered to count. Most stadiums have large gates. Yankee Stadium had a revolving door.

For a while, it worked. He bought the great players who had turned free agents and they won together, the Los Angeles elevator incident notwithstanding. But as Yankee Stadium became the Bronx Zoo, players came to see that playing for Steinbrenner was not quite the option it seemed. The stars stopped coming. Unless they were old or worn out or used up. Or overpaid. Or overrated. And then there was Dave Winfield, who fought with Steinbrenner for nearly a decade and then, in the end, if indirectly, finally brought him down.

As the Yankees grew worse and worse, the fans grew angrier and angrier, and maybe that was the best thing. They had to learn how the other half lived. Where has all the smugness gone, long time passing?

But the anger did fuel more jokes. There was the “Saturday Night Live” bit in which there was a Steinbrenner health watch. The reporter would come on to report more bad news: George was healthy as a horse.

At Yankee Stadium, there would be loud anti-Steinbrenner chants. The misery hung heavy in the air like a Pascual Perez curveball.

Then Howard Spira, the gambler who apparently sold Steinbrenner dirt on Winfield, entered the scene, and now Steinbrenner, thanks to Commissioner Fay Vincent, has left it. He cannot run the team anymore, although he does not have to sell it. He cannot make any team decisions. He can’t even attend Yankee games without written permission. This would seem to be bad news for Yankee haters. Vincent has said that all Yankee front-office moves for the next five years have to be approved by him. This would seem to be bad news for Yankee haters, too.

But all may not be lost. It has been reported that Steinbrenner has nominated his son, Hank, to succeed him as managing partner of the team. If this move is approved -- and I’m guessing that Steinbrenner has already discussed the matter with Vincent -- do we really believe that he won’t be talking to his son, whispering in his ear, telling him to fire whoever the manager might then be? Do you think there are enough safeguards to keep Steinbrenner’s hands off when his son’s hands are full?

This is a man, you’ll recall, who was convicted for contributing illegal campaign funds to Nixon. He’s sneaky. He’s conniving. And he may have a blood relative at the controls. What’s scary is that Boss George might be back before he gets a chance to leave. If that brings a smile to your face, you’re no kind of Yankee fan.