Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball

by Bill Madden

Overview

“Having covered the Yankees for thirty years, and with access to previously unavailable material, Madden provides a definitive and captivating biography.” —Kirkus Reviews

2010 Winner of the Baseball Hall of Fame J. G. Taylor Spink Award

If you love the New York Yankees, arguably the most storied franchise in all of sports—or even if you’re just a fan of baseball history, or big business bios—this biography of the larger-than-life team owner for the past four decades is a must for your bookshelf. For more than thirty years Bill Madden has covered the Yankees and Major League Baseball for the New York Daily News, and he brings all his insights and inside connections to Steinbrenner: the definitive biography of one of New York’s most intriguing and long-standing sports figures, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

“Riveting . . . Reading the book feels like the literary equivalent of passing a traffic accident; it is all but impossible to turn away.” —The New York Times



“Definitive, indispensable . . . A vivid and entertaining portrait.” —Sports Illustrated

“[Madden] offers an insider’s look at how Steinbrenner has run his team, even finding unexpected—certainly underpublicized—humanity in his subject.” —Booklist

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061992582
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	800
Sales rank:	575,078
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Bill Madden has covered the Yankees and Major League Baseball for the New York Daily News for more than forty years. In 2010, Madden was the recipient of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s  J. G. Taylor Spink Award. He has written several books about baseball, including the New York Times bestseller Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

1 The Coming Storm 1

2 Cleveland 36

3 "Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell Out of the Way" 80

4 Watergate and Catfish 105

5 Three for the Tabloids 144

6 Turmoil and Triumph 187

7 Days of Whine and Rosen 226

8 From Here to Eternity 265

9 Howser and Horses 301

10 Passages 331

11 Chaos: Reggie's Revenge, Umpire Wars and Pine Tar Follies 371

12 An Icon Scorned 415

13 A "Favorite Son" Exiled 445

14 Tale of the Tapes 495

15 Banished! 537

16 The Comeback 560

17 The Buck Stops Here 602

18 Torre Glory 639

19 Billionaire George 677

20 The Lion in Winter 710

Notes and Acknowledgments 755

Bibliography 761

Editorial Reviews

…riveting…Reading the book feels like the literary equivalent of passing a traffic accident; it is all but impossible to turn away.
—The New York Times

Michael Shapiro

Madden provides a definitive and captivating biography of ‘The Boss.’” — Kirkus Reviews

“Definitive, indispensible.... A vivid and entertaining portrait.” — Sports Illustrated

From the Publisher

Definitive, indispensible.... A vivid and entertaining portrait.

Sports Illustrated

Veteran New York Daily News sportswriter Madden (Pride of October: What It Was to Be Young and a Yankee, 2004, etc.) examines George Steinbrenner, irascible owner of the New York Yankees. Venal and vituperative, generous and loyal, no owner dominated both his team and the headlines as Steinbrenner did. When he bought the Yankees for less than $10 million in 1972-the team is now worth more than $1 billion-he said, "I've got a ship company to run. I won't have much time for baseball." However, for the next 30 years he proceeded to micromanage the team in ways no owner ever had or, probably, ever will-from keeping track of players' hair length to ensuring no trash bags were littering Yankee Stadium. Most importantly, riding the wave of free agency, in which players would go to the highest bidder, usually Steinbrenner, he was able to return the Yankees to greatness, winning seven World Series titles between 1977 and 2009. But success came at a price for his employees. Public humiliation was common, and no general manager or manager could know from one day to the next whether or not he would still have a job. Born in 1930, the son of a demanding father he could never please, Steinbrenner had always been drawn to sports, even coaching college football until called to run the family shipping business, which he did with great success. Madden speculates that his bullying manner, though he was capable of great personal kindness, grew from an unrequited desire to impress his father. Whatever the case, the author covers the soap-opera tales of Steinbrenner's relationship with superstar players like Reggie Jackson and Dave Winfield, and with a revolving door of managers, including the troubled Billy Martin, whom Steinbrenner would hire and fire five times. Old age and illness finally removed Steinbrenner from the Yankees' center stage, and with that an era ended. Having covered the Yankees for 30 years, and with access to previously unavailable material, Madden provides a definitive and captivating biography of "The Boss."Author appearances in the Tristate area. Agent: Rob Wilson/Wilson Media

Kirkus Reviews