Steinbrenner, George Michael, 3d, 1930–2010, American businessman, principal owner of the New York Yankees (1973–2010), b. Rocky River, Ohio, grad. Williams College (B.A., 1952). A wealthy shipping and shipbuilding executive, he became as head of the Yankees an activist baseball owner notorious for his feuds with managers, especially Billy Martin, whom he fired and rehired five times, and with players. “The Boss” also was largely responsible for transforming the bedimmed Yankees into one of the sport's most successful teams, creating a billion-dollar sports empire and building (2009) a new Yankee Stadium for a team that won 11 pennants and 7 World Series (1977–78, 1996, 1998–2000, 2009). He rebuilt the Yankees partially by hiring star players at unprecedentedly high salaries, which led to competitive player salary increases throughout the sport. Often controversial, he was twice banned from baseball (1974–76, 1990–93).
See studies by D. Schapp (1982), B. Madden (1991), M. Allen (2001), and P. Golenbock (2009).
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