George

Golenbock Peter

Description

The biography of one of the most controversial figures in sports: New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner

For 34 years, he berated his players and tormented Yankees managers and employees. He played fast and loose with the rules, and twice could have gone to jail. He was banned from baseball for life—but was allowed back in the game. Yet George Steinbrenner also built the New York Yankees from a mediocre team into the greatest sports franchise in America. The Yankees won ten pennants and six World Series during his tenure. Now acclaimed sportswriter and New York Times bestselling author Peter Golenbock tells the fascinating story of "The Boss," from his Midwestern childhood through his decades-long ownership of the Yankees–the longest in the team's history.

• Draws on more than a hundred interviews with those who have known George Steinbrenner throughout his life to tell the complete story of "The Boss" and his long tenure as owner of the New York Yankees
• Gets inside Steinbrenner’s countless manager hirings and firings, from Billy Martin to Joe Torre; the legendary feuds and hard feelings involving famous figures such as Yogi Berra and Dave Winfield; and the ever-spiraling players' salaries
• Covers the astute business deals that transformed the Yankees from a $10 million franchise into a powerhouse worth over $1 billion today
• Written by Peter Golenbock, one of the nation's best-known sports authors and the author of five New York Times bestsellers, including Number 1 with Billy Martin and The Bronx Zoo with Sparky Lyle

Packed with drama, insight, and fascinating front-office details, George is essential reading for baseball fans and anyone who loves a terrific story well told.
Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Personality Disorders.

Prologue: The Final Game.

1 Henry and George.

2 Culver Military Academy.

3 Williams College.

4 Lockbourne Air Force Base.

5 Coach George.

6 Come to Papa.

7 The Cleveland Pipers.

8 George Builds an Empire.

9 Vernon Stouffer’s Revenge.

10 Buying the CBS Yankees.

11 George Takes Charge.

12 Watergate.

13 George’s Short Exile.

14 Wooing Billy.

15 George’s First Pennant.

16 The Bronx Zoo.

17 “One’s a Born Liar . . .”.

18 George in Charge.

19 The Fans Chant.

20 Hello, I Must Be Going.

21 Insanity.

22 Howie Spira and Mr. May.

23 American Ship Goes Under.

24 Gene Michael Rebuilds.

25 Joe Torre Arrives.

26 George Takes Back the Reins.

27 The Gold Mine.

28 Silent George.

29 George the Munificent.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Histoire du sport
• Sports
• Lettres et linguistique
• Béisbol
• Nueva York
• Grandes Ligas de Béisbol
• Biography
• New York Yankees
• New York City
• Major League Baseball
• Autobiography
• Ligue majeure de baseball
• Baseball
• New York

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 29 avril 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470730331
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgements
Personality Disorders
Prologue: The Final Game
 
Chapter 1 - Henry and George
Chapter 2 - Culver Military Academy
Chapter 3 - Williams College
Chapter 4 - Lockbourne Air Force Base
Chapter 5 - Coach George
Chapter 6 - Come to Papa
Chapter 7 - The Cleveland Pipers
Chapter 8 - George Builds an Empire
Chapter 9 - Vernon Stouffer’s Revenge
Chapter 10 - Buying the CBS Yankees
Chapter 11 - George Takes Charge
Chapter 12 - Watergate
Chapter 13 - George’s Short Exile
Chapter 14 - Wooing Billy
Chapter 15 - George’s First Pennant
Chapter 16 - The Bronx Zoo
Chapter 17 - “One’s a Born Liar . . . ”
Chapter 18 - George in Charge
Chapter 19 - The Fans Chant
Chapter 20 - Hello, I Must Be Going
Chapter 21 - Insanity
Chapter 22 - Howie Spira and Mr. May
Chapter 23 - American Ship Goes Under
Chapter 24 - Gene Michael Rebuilds
Chapter 25 - Joe Torre Arrives
Chapter 26 - George Takes Back the Reins
Chapter 27 - The Gold Mine
Chapter 28 - Silent George
Chapter 29 - George the Munificent
 
Notes
Bibliography
Index

This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2009 by Peter Golenbock. All rights reserved
All photos copyright © by Associated Press
 
In chapter 24, Seinfeld and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and copyright © by Castle Rock Entertainment
 
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
 
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions .
 
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
 
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].
 
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com .
 
eISBN : 978-0-470-73033-1
 

 
For Charlie, my son. I couldn’t be prouder. And for Debra.
Preface
I was supposed to be a lawyer, but two months before the bar exam, I got punched in the face by a mugger in the deserted Rahway, New Jersey, train station, and a few days later, in the elevator of the New York University law library, I had a seizure that knocked me out and put me in the hospital. I was told to avoid stress, but how to you do that when you have to take the bar exam? I sat in a large hall, ready to take the exam, and on the cover of my blue book, the first question was, “What is your name?” Searching my scrambled brain to answer the question, I drew a blank. I closed the book and walked out.
I got a job working for a prestigious law firm located on Fifty-ninth Street just off Fifth Avenue anyway. But I left after eight weeks. I had been assigned to a negligent lawyer and quit rather than act as his apologist. Shortly afterward, I espied an ad in the New York Times for a writer with a legal background. I had been the sports editor of the Dartmouth , and I had been the Dartmouth correspondent to both the New York Times and the Boston Globe . I was the perfect man for the job, and when I called and talked to the director of personnel, I was told to drive to the offices of Prentice Hall on the banks of the Hudson River in New Jersey just north of the George Washington Bridge.
In the summer of 1972, I was hired as an assistant editor for the munificent salary of $7,500 a year to write a weekly report on President Richard M. Nixon’s wage and price controls. After a month chafing at the corporate culture and angry they could pay me a low salary because I had failed to pass the bar, I joined with several others in the legal department to meet with the Teamsters about starting a union for the lawyers on the staff at Prentice Hall. We had several meetings with Jimmy Hoffa’s boys, and we were well on our way to doing something about the low pay of the company when one lunch-time I ran across a catalog of Prentice Hall’s trade books. Among the tomes in the catalog was Bread and Butter Basketball by my old Dartmouth basketball coach, Doggie Julian. I wanted to write a book about the New York Yankees, my childhood team. Perhaps Prentice Hall would publish it.
I drove to Yankee Stadium, and I asked for the public relations department. I was ushered in to see a young guy by the name of Marty Appel. He was the assistant PR guy for the Yankees, and he looked to be about sixteen years old. “If I can get a contract to write a book about the Yankees,” I asked, “will you allow me to spend time looking through your newspaper morgue?”
“If you can get a contract,” Marty said with a smile and obvious skepticism, “you’re welcome to research our archive.”
I had just turned twenty-six. I had no notion of how the world worked. Why wouldn’t Prentice Hall want to publish my book? I thought. I left my desk around noon and went looking for the head trade book editor, wandering the maze of jail-yellow halls and asking for directions until I found my man. Without as much as an appointment, I knocked on the door of Nick D’Incecco.
Nick yelled, “Come in,” and I walked into his office. We shook hands, and I talked up this book I wanted to write about the Casey Stengel-era Yankees of my blessed childhood. I gave him my credentials—how could he turn down a writer who had been the sports editor of the Dartmouth ? I told him I worked upstairs in the legal department, and I told him that in the sixteen seasons I wanted to write about, the Yankees had drawn almost twenty million fans.
“If I could sell a book to one percent of those people,” I said, “we’d have a big seller.
Luckily for me, Nick loved the Yankees as much as I did.
“Write me up a proposal,” he said.
In my four pages of bullshit (as it turned out, I really had no clue how I was going to do this), I listed all the great players I was going to write about from the years 1949 through 1964, a period in which the Yankees won fourteen pennants and nine world championships. I also wrote that the Yankees had agreed to give me access to their private newspaper morgue.
A week later I got a call from D’Incecco.
“Come down and sign your contract,” he said.
It seemed too easy, and over the years the enormity of it all grew. I was literally doing the impossible. I often wondered whether Prentice Hall gave me the contract to stop my union organizing. Later, I discovered, management defeated the union efforts. I have always felt guilty about that.
 
 
 
I had started a business renting rooms in the Penn Garden Hotel to college students, and every day I would drive my little Mercedes 230 SL from my Manhattan garage on First Street to Yankee Stadium, where I would sit among the literally hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles and take notes. It was a gargantuan task, but I was undaunted, in part because Marty Appel kept his word and let me have access to the Yankee archive, and because the people working for the Yankees were so supportive. Led by Yankee president Michael Burke, these were some of the finest people I have ever known.
After several weeks, Freddie Bachman, a large, jovial born salesman in charge of special projects and also in charge of employee lunch, began inviting me to go with them. Freddie had this special restaurant he and his friends patronized. It was a small steak joint where Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle used to eat. It was also owned by the mob. Large men wearing pinkie rings sat in the corner eating huge slabs of steak. We ordered a New York strip streak. For us Yankee employees, the tab was two dollars each.
Before long I was answering the phones, “New York Yankees,” when the PR people were out of the office. I was leading a most amazing life, working at Yankee Stadium by day, playing camp counselor for my hundred-plus college students at night.
I had started my research in August, when the Yankees were still playing. The team was improving slowly and would finish second that year to the Baltimore Orioles. The star of the team was the catcher Thurman Munson, and Bobby Murcer was proving a talented player, though he never did become the second coming of Mickey Mantle like they said he was going to. The team had several talented pitchers, including Mel Stottlemyre, Fritz Peterson, and Mike Kekich. It also had Ron Blomberg, the first Ame