RIP George Steinbrenner

July 4, 1930 – July 13, 2010

I will be surprised if Mr. Smith doesn’t write something about losing the legendary owner of his favorite baseball team, but I still wanted to post a short, off-kilter tribute from the perspective of someone who is not – and never has been – a baseball fan.  Upon hearing that Steinbrenner passed away in Tampa this morning due to a massive heart attack, I perused his bio on Wikipedia and learned more about King George in a few minutes than I had ever known previously.  For instance, I was unaware that his first job in sports was as a graduate assistant to Woody Hayes on Ohio State’s 1955 national championship football team.  I was also surprised to learn that Steinbrenner was once indicted on 14 criminal counts back in 1974 as a result of his company’s connections with then-President Richard Nixon – he was later pardoned by Ronald Reagan.  As a matter of fact, before today, everything I know about Steinbrenner I learned from the character on Seinfeld.  So whenever I think of Steinbrenner, I think of things like threatening to move the team to New Jersey just to upset people, the song “Heartbreaker“, and eggplant calzones.  Big Stein made his first appearance on the show in a 1994 episode titled “The Opposite”, and the Yankees owner was portrayed by a man named Lee Bear – but the show’s creator (Larry David) provided the voice-over performances.  Steinbrenner’s character would go on to be featured in 12 additional episodes until the show’s end, including the finale, and provided more than a few classic moments in TV sitcom history.  Baseball lost both a highly controversial and influential individual today, but his legacy will live on forever in the hearts of his family, friends, and fans – and in reruns.

This scene was originally a part of the season 7 finale “Invitations”, but was edited out due to time constraints:

This video is about Larry David’s appearances on the show, but the Steinbrenner clips start around the 3:00 mark:

Highly Recommended Links:  Every Seinfeld scene with Steinbrenner – Parts I & II