The New York Yankees are being forced to defend the gratuitious moment honoring their former principal owner George Steinbrenner. The plaque, at seven feet wide and over one quarter ton in weight, dwarfs those of the more famous Yankee players erected in famed Monument Park behind the center field wall, a tradition carried over into the new Yankee Stadium
“We think the monument is a tribute to the man The Boss was, larger than life. His spirit is encompassed by that monument, and there was no intention to make it bigger than the others just for the sake of doing it,” team president Randy Levine told the Daily News before Tuesday night’s game against the Rays. “We just felt that it was The Boss, the greatest owner in sports. He built (the new) Yankee Stadium. He did so much for so many people. And he made the Yankee brand a worldwide one and took it to heights that never have been reached.
“It was not made bigger in an attempt to have it be larger than the others. We just wanted to represent the spirit of George Steinbrenner.”
We didn’t make it bigger to make it…uh, bigger! We just wanted to make it bigger!
“Mr. Steinbrenner always was so proud of Monument Park and now it’s as if he’s overseeing the other monuments and plaques and the tradition that reside there,” [senior VP of marketing Debbie]Tymon said. –NY Daily News.
That’s ridiculous on so many levels. Steinbrenner was probably one of the worst owners in sports. How many owners were banned from their sport twice AND convicted of a felony. And nearly all of the great things that happened for that team in the 2000s were set in motion while he was cast away from the team. The YES Network? Totally fell into his lap.
The guy was a narcissist f*ck that terrorized everyone that worked for him, and didn’t win a damn thing until he was suspended long enough for the organization to build a team without him. That memorial is indefensible. Indefensible. Of all the great tradition that team has–all of its legendary players and championships–that’s the crown jewel in Monument Park? Disgusting. It makes me wish that we could bury that bastard a second time.
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The plaque is ridiculous. Yankee fans went to games to watch the players not because Big Stein was the owner.
However, as a Yankees fan there were more times I was glad he owned them team than times I wasn’t.
Oh c’mon, Punte. Suzyn Waldman has great anecdotes about him! He was so kind as to fingerblast her in the press box during batting practice!
hey, it’s his team. if they wanted to erect a 500 foot replica of the statue of liberty and put his face on it, then stick it behind the wall in center field they could. When you buy a baseball team, win a bunch of championships, start a multi-billion dollar cable network, build a new ball park, and take it global, you can do whatever the fuck you want, until then keep those witty little blog posts coming.
Duto: Do some research. None of those things happened because of anything he did. They happened because the team he owned happened to be the New York Yankees. If he had been running the Indians, the team might have folded by now.
That’s good hate. You weren’t, by chance, molested by him as a youth?
@DP, Oh my goodness gracious, off all the dramatic things I’ve ever seen!
If I built a fucking baseball stadium, I would want a goddamn 50 foot statue of myself instead of a flagpole and fans would salute me during the national anthem.
@UU – OHHHH MY GAWWWWWDDDD, ROGEWRRR CWEMMMMMENSSSS!
didnt the taxpayers pay for the stadium…why its called the house that you built (but cant sit in because you have no job and seats are $1000)
Hey look! its Enrico Pallazzo!
Josh, you’re out of your fuckin’ mind. How does owning the Yankee’s magically make it successful? They were shit for most of the 70′s and 80′s. I guarantee you that the fans in Cleveland wish every day that big stein woulda been able to buy that team years ago.
Duto, even if he was directly responsible for all of those things, does that trump what that franchise already was? Does it put him on a pedestal above Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, that one Jewish guy? I don’t see how anyone could say that it does.
Secondly, you need to read up on the man. One rec: Peter Golenbeck’s “George.” You will spit acid when you read some of the shit that this guy did. I have a copy sitting on my table right now, and I will even mail you this book if it’ll shut you up.
Overreacting. You’ve done it.
email it to me…
He made illegal campaign contributions. You act like he killed someone. Stop being a pussy.
Punte, I love you (no homo) but I think you are overreacting to this just a wee bit. You can only really see those monuments if you’re standing in monument park and everybody knows that only nerdfaggots take tours of Yankee Stadium. The guy built the fucking place. They could erect an 80 foot tall replica of his penis and put it in the middle of the outfield and I wouldn’t give a shit.
Hey Punte, keep your Midwestern shithead idiocy the fuck away from Stein and the Yankees. You’re mad because he lacked the gaping vagina that’s evident in your every post. j/k you’re not that bad, but shut the fuck up.
I’m pretty sure that anyone could own the New York Yankees and make them a successful franchise at the gate because they’re the New York Yankees, the alpha franchise in the biggest market in the country, one that just happens to be loony about baseball. Yeah, it’s an overreaction on PUNTE’s part, and yeah, technically, it was his team so he could do whatever he wanted with it, but c’mon, if you think that Steinbrenner meant more to the Yankees than, Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, DiMaggio, Jackson or hell, even Derek Jeter or Mariano Rivera, you’re a dipshit.