The All-Star game was played last night, but it was overshadowed, at least in Yankeeland, by the passing of Yankee owner George Steinbrenner. I'm sure that by now everyone has heard about how the Boss died and I am sure that most have peruse the thousands of tribute articles that chronicled the highs and lows of Steinbrenner's time at the helm of baseball's most prominent team.
I wont really bother with most of that. We all know what he did for the Yankees, baseball and American sports in general. Fans of opposing teams usually despised him, but the reality is anyy fan of any team would love to have him as an owner. Steinbrenner ran a team like a fan would. He didn't care about the bottom line, to him all that mattered was winning and any financial endeavor he undertook as the owner of the Yankees had the ultimate objective of helping the Yankees to their next pennant.
Really it is fitting that he pass on the day of the All-Star game because his impact on the game is most personified by the competition between the American League and the National League. The reason the AL has so dominated the Midsummer Classic is because every team in the AL has to compete with the Yankees and therefore must play at a higher level than the Senior Circuit.
Steinbrenner drove the Yankees to greatness, but he also drove baseball to new heights at the same time. There was no one quite like him before and there will probably never be anyone like him again. The Yanks will miss you George.
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