A Fitting Tribute
Imagine a tribute night to George Steinbrenner and the Yankees didn't win?? No chance. The home runs by Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada showed the grit he loved so much, and walk-off win by Buckeye Nick Swisher was just what the script doctor ordered. That's how you pay tribute to the man. Win.
George Steinbrenner was remembered this week as a fierce competitor. He also loved to be known as a patriotic American, quoting George Patton and firing off guided missives to inspire the troops. For Steinbrenner, the Yankees stood for the red, white, and blue. And there was nothing more American to him than winning, a message that was never lost in translation to the men in pinstripes.
At the Yankees spring training home in Tampa, there are various quotes splashed across the clubhouse walls attributed to men like Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and Joe DiMaggio. There are also quotes without a name attached, and it is generally accepted that those quotes are attributed to one George M. Steinbrenner III.
They are sayings like, "Unless you're the lead dog the view never changes," and "May we do in all things our damndest—and never, ever give up." My favorite is the one word message that went up in the past decade after an October that ended without champagne showers, and read simply, "Accountability."
The men in the pinstripes learned their lessons well. The players generally don't need to be told they are out there to try to win the game. That's what they do every day. But they knew that somehow there was an even greater responsibility to win each day when they were working for The Boss.
"You could feel it," Joe Girardi said Friday. "You could feel it not only from the office up above but you felt it in the crowd as well, from the fans of New York. Mr. Steinbrenner was a part of that. He set up an expectation here that getting to the playoffs wasn't good enough, getting to the World Series wasn't good enough. And I can't tell you what it was like in the '20's, the '30's, the '40's, and the '50's, but I know what it's like now…and he has a lot to do with that.
And through that competitive desire, the Boss made it interesting. He reacted the way you would if you were sitting on your couch. Only he got to do what none of you did…he got to take his complaints directly to the clubhouse. He got to call out managers, coaches, and players alike. Sometimes it was to their faces, other times it was through the media. However he did it, the men in pinstripes always got the message.
"You knew what to expect," Derek Jeter said Friday. "It was all I've ever known, playing for him and his expectation level. He expected perfection, he spoke his mind, he challenged his players…you know, if you couldn't take it you couldn't play here. Everyone was aware of that. It could be tough at times, really tough on guys that didn't come up in the organization and came over here, it sort of came out of left field. But for me, I enjoyed it. We had a pretty close relationship, we had a special relationship that went far above and beyond an owner/player…I appreciated being able to come up with him as the owner."
Steinbrenner's desire to win. It was bigger than all of us. As Jeter alluded to, it was survival of the fittest. You were either Mr. October or Mr. May. You were either The Warrior or The Fat, Pussie Toad. Even if Vince Lombardi never really said it, George Steinbrenner should have—winning wasn't everything, it was the only thing. And a night in tribute to The Boss wouldn't have been the same if the Yankees had lost.
Sweeny Murti
