George Michael Steinbrenner III was born on the 4th July 1930, in Rocky River, Ohio USA of Irish and German ancestry, and died on the 13th July 2010 in Tampa, Florida, USA. He was an entrepreneur, the main owner of the baseball team the New York Yankees. Due to his authoritarian leadership style he was known by the nickname The Boss. Unlike many other team owners Steinbrenner did not hesitate to spend millions on new players to improve his team; George owned the Yankees from 1973 until 2010. Additionally, he was involved in the shipping industry in Gulf Coast as well as the Great Lakes.
How much was the net worth of George Steinbrenner? It had been estimated by sources that the outright size of his wealth was equal to $1.4 billion.
George Steinbrenner Net Worth $1.4 Billion
To begin with, Steinbrenner grew up in Cleveland. He practiced athletics and American Football at Culver Military Academy in Indiana, and also coached Athletics at Williams College in Massachusetts while he obtained his degree, graduating in 1952. After two years in the US Air Force he coached high school teams in American Football in Columbus before accepting an assistant coaching jobs at Northwestern and then Purdue University.
In 1960 he bought the Cleveland Pipers, the team that played in the National Industrial Basketball League. Establishing the American Basketball League (ABL) the team changed to that league; more, they managed to win the title in the first season. Steinbrenner was able to recruit the nationally known basketball talent Jerry Lucas in the following season, hoped to make the Pipers attractive enough to enter the NBA. The plan worked, but the ABL folded, Steinbrenner’s team had no league to play. He resolved all debts, and returned to the American Shipbuilding Company, buying-out the family in 1972, and which was in some ways his bread-and-butter for the rest of his life.
Steinbrenner tried to buy the Cleveland Indians for $9 million in 1971, but his offer was rejected. Shortly thereafter, he bought the Yankees with a group of investors including Lester Crown, Nelson Bunker Hunt and John DeLorean; thus, Steinbrenner’s dream to own a baseball club came true. He was subsequently the owner of the team for 37 years, the longest in the whole history of the team, or any other, except between 1990 and 1993 when he was suspended by the MLB for inappropriate behaviour, and after 2006 when poor health meant that he handed daily control to his sons. During that time, from 1973 to 2010, the team managed to win seven World Series titles as well as eleven pennants. Still, he was considered to be the most controversial figure, as he used to hire and fire players, and interfere in on-field choices, so George was constantly organizing press conferences trying to explain or apologize even for losses.
Furthermore, Steinbrenner became famous as a character in the sitcom “Seinfeld” (1989 – 1998), the most successful 1990s television show of its genre in the USA. These performances were seen as a tribute to Steinbrenner. Initially, he did not like the idea but later agreed to an appearance in the final episode of the seventh season; ultimately it can be seen only on DVD.
During his life, Steinbrenner received many awards including The Flying Wedge Award, Tampa Metro Civitan Club’s Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award and many other highlights. In 2011, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Finally, in the personal life of George Steinbrenner, he married Elizabeth Joan Zieg in 1956, and they lived together until his death in 2010. The family has two boys and two girls. He suffered a heart attack in the morning of the Major League Baseball All Star Game, on 13th July, 2010. He rests at Trinity Memorial Gardens located in Trinity, Florida.
