The man who could have been Boss

Today, let us ponder the long, personal journey of Hank Steinbrenner.

The Times obit:

Asked why he preferred to be around horses more than players, Hank said, “Because the horses don’t talk back...” 

Billy Madden at the Daily News: 

Everybody liked Hank because he was not afraid to take jabs at his father and because there were no airs about him. He was anything but the prototypical rich man’s kid. He always wore a sport jacket, but almost never wore a tie. A chain smoker, there was a quiet intensity about him... The breaking point in ‘86, he would later say, was when, over the fervid objections of Woodward and Piniella, the Boss traded the Yankees’ No. 1 pitching prospect, Doug Drabek, to the Pirates for Rick Rhoden, a pitcher nine years his senior.

Tampa Bay Times.

“Maybe at times I’ll shoot from the hip too much,” Hank Steinbrenner said in a 2008 Tampa Bay Times story. “And that’s an influence from my day. But the biggest thing I learned from (his father) is winning.”

Bob Nightengale at USA Today.

He was bombastic, just like his father. There was no filter, just like his father. You want his opinion, well, you better not be afraid of the answer. Maybe the baseball world wasn’t ready for Hank Steinbrenner, and he ultimately decided to silence himself, but for almost a year in 2008 when he was vocal, exercising his authority for everyone to hear, man was he fun to be around.

An old friend and Redsock fan, now deceased, used to bombard me with dumpy, chain-smoker photos of Hank, his way of mocking the Yankees. Back then, it seemed a foregone conclusion that old George would hand down the team to his first-born son, a temperamental doppelganger, who would continue the tradition of shredding managers, overpaying for stars, and spewing rage quotes like tap water. The Yankees would be run by a colorful dullard, and fans would spend the next decade tearing out our hair - except for when we won. Somewhere out there, that Yankiverse exists...

Let's give Hank credit. He was smart enough to see that future and get out. To this day, I cannot summon one bad thought about him. He remained genuine, while the Yankees became a dead corporate machine, and - in terms of winning championships - a run-of-the-mill MLB franchise. 

But today, I wish no bad thoughts upon Hal Steinbrenner, as well. He's lost a brother, and it looks as though the Yankees will lose their best chance at winning a championship in the last 10 years. The pandemic has a way of tamping down my outrage, and I hope it does yours, as well. If we're going to live to see another Yankee World Series, maybe this is time to get along.

I cannot help but wonder how the team would have fared if Hank had stayed. Still, I'm glad he jumped ship. He seems to have lived a happy life. May we all possess the forethought and courage to do the same. 

Stay safe, everybody. We are going to be reading many more obits. It's the twilight of the gods...