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Q & A | Peter Golenbock: On George Steinbrenner

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What: Miami Book Fair International 2009

When: Nov. 8-15; Street Fair wraps up on Sunday

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Cory Nightingale is a copy editor on The Miami Herald's sports desk. He asked this of Peter Golenbock, who wrote ``George -- The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built the Yankee Empire'' (Wiley, $26.95):

Q: What did you discover about George Steinbrenner that really surprised you?

A: When I started researching the book, I was under the impression that George Steinbrenner was an astute business man, because he had bought the New York Yankees from CBS for $10 million, and after owning the team for over 35 years, it is now worth more than a billion dollars.

What I discovered was a narcissistic tyrant who was incapable of delegating authority and unwilling to trust the experts he hired, including his managers and general managers. As a result, he cost the team at least a half dozen pennants by his poor decisions with respect to player acquisition and personnel management.

He signed players who didn't perform for millions of dollars and he hired and fired dozens of very capable managers and general managers.

He was jealous of the popularity of his own managers and players.

There were two periods of success for the Yankees when Steinbrenner was owner. The first came in the years 1976-1978 after he was suspended for two years for making illegal campaign contributions. The second came in the years between 1996 and 2003 after he was suspended for two years for paying a man $40,000 to provide dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield's charity.

Why did he do that? He was embarrassed that Winfield had signed a contract with a cost of living increase built into it, a clause Steinbrenner overlooked, and when Steinbrenner asked him to take it out, Winfield refused. This was Steinbrenner's revenge.

Both times the suspensions prevented him from trading away talented rookies. As a result, Ron Guidry helped the Yankees to three pennants and two world championships. And in the latter case rookies Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, and Bernie Williams were able to come up to the Yankees and establish themselves. They then brought the Yankees six pennants and four world championships. Had he been running the team, George, who distrusted rookies, would have traded most of those players away, and the Yankees never would have won those pennants.

• 3 p.m. Sunday, 3208-3209. With S.L. Price, ``Heart of the Game: Life, Death and Mercy in Minor League America''; and Jeff Leen, ``The Queen of the Ring.''

The Miami Herald
The Miami Herald

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