Rest in peace, Boss by Jared Carrabis
George Steinbrenner passes away at the age of 80


I'm going to take you back to the year 1999.

I was just a ten-year-old Red Sox fan, living ten minutes outside of Boston. Behind the masterful pitching of Pedro Martinez, tossing six no-hit innings in the clinching game of the American League Division Series, my Red Sox were playing for the chance to go to the World Series.

The only thing standing in the Red Sox' way of a trip to the Fall Classic were the defending World Series Champions, the New York Yankees.

To the displeasure of Red Sox fans, the Boston's run in the American League Championship Series was short-lived, as Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Mariano Rivera stomped out the Sox' World Series dreams.

With a broken heart and tears in my eyes, I watched the Yankees celebrate on the field at Fenway. Devastated that baseball had been taken away from me for six long months, I looked up at my dad and said, "I can't wait until the day George Steinbrenner dies."

I felt cheated. I felt robbed, and I had been so confident that this was the year. Nobody could beat the pitching triple crown winner and the batting champion, but the Yankees did.

Eleven years later, it would be fair to say that my knowledge of baseball has expanded, and I've grown as a baseball fan. Eleven year later, the day that Steinbrenner passed away had finally come, and I am truly saddened.

Coming from a devout Red Sox fan, George Steinbrenner just may be the greatest owner in the history of sports. From a business standpoint, Steinbrenner revolutionized the game of baseball. Creating the YES Network, Steinbrenner turned a $10 million franchise into what Forbes has deemed a franchise worth $1.3 billion.

Since taking over the New York Yankees in 1973, Steinbrenner constructed teams that went on to win eleven pennants and seven World Series titles, with the most recent coming this past year.

He will be remembered as a man who did everything in his power to win, and put the success of his franchise before that of anything else.

On July 13, 2010, the baseball world lost one of the most influential figures in its history, but the framework that he left behind will continue to mold baseball for generations to come.

-Jared Carrabis



To order Jared's debut book, One Fan's Story: If This Hat Could Talk, click HERE!





Published on July 13, 2010

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