Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Steinbrenner Kids, sell the Yankees.

Jacob Ruppert and Tillinghast L'Hommedieu Huston purchased the Yankees in 1915 and then bought the contract of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox following the 1919 season. 1910-1919 was the previous decade in which the Yankees did not reach the World Series. One hundred years later the Yankees completed another such decade, 2010-2019, under the ownership of the adult children (Steinbrenner Kids) of the late owner George Steinbrenner, who died July 13, 2010. Steinbrenner's group bought the Yankees from CBS, which owned the Yankees 1964-1973. CBS is the last owner of any major league team to lose money when it sold. In other words, CBS failed at owning the New York Yankees.

By the only measurement any real Yankee fan would apply, the Steinbrenner Kids have failed. The Yankees have won only one championship in the last 19 years: 2009. The only times during those 19 years that the Yankees even reached the finals, i.e., World Series: 2001 and 2003. They lost to two expansion teams: Diamondbacks and Marlins.

We could blame the general manager since February 1998, Brian Cashman, but ultimate responsibility belongs to the Steinbrenner Kids. The current managing general partner who has been in charge most of the decade since the death of their father is the youngest: Hal Steinbrenner. Hal seems unwilling and/or incapable of holding Cashman accountable, so Hal takes the blame.

The Yankees have qualified for the tournament every year of the last quarter century except 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016. The Yankees won more games than they lost every year 1993-2019.

The Yankees have spent the most money and made the most money in the last quarter century. The spending explains the success and maybe the profit explains the complacency.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

One championship in the last 19 years.
One championship in the last 19 years.
One championship in the last 19 years.

Fans don't care about how much money the owners spend or make. Yankee fans care about only one championship in the last 19 years. That is not acceptable.


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