Yesterday was a sad day for Yankees fans. The Boss, George Steinbrener, died at the age of 80.
Sure there were fans who had mixed feelings about the guy. On one hand, he bought every superstar he could; on the other hand, he was the mean guy who publicly insulted his players after a bad loss.
But no matter how people feel about The Boss, nobody can deny his incredible achievement. He purchased a failing team in the 1970's for ten million dollars. He died in the summer of 2010, the owner of a 1.5 billion dollar team.
The secret to his success was his single minded determination. For Steinbrener it was simple. You do what it takes, you spend what you have to, but winning is not optional. And while many folks, particularly fans of other teams, hated him for it, he produced results. During the years that Mr. Steinbrener was owner of the team, the Yankees won the American League pennant eleven times, and the championship seven times. He had to have died satisfied. At the time of his death, his team had one their last game. They had the best record in baseball.
Across the great and mighty world of sports talk radio, everyone recalled how all George Steinbrener really cared about was victory for his team. And while the goal wasn't quite one I'd praise, the trait is admirable.
Imagine if a yid would focus their complete attention towards serving Hashem. Imagine what kind of a tzadik would be produced if a person would take on the attitude of "you do what it takes and spend what you have to." Imagine how many victories a person could have against his yetzer harah.
George Steinbrener put everything he had into his Yankees; shouldn't we do that much for Hashem?
6 comments:
" At the time of his death, his team had one their last game"
one? won?
just pointing it out
I can't agree with this one, I don't think George Steinbrener can be used as an example of how we should serve Hashem. If someone is so dedicated to Hashem that they treat other people the way Steinbrenner did, I think they missed the boat. I do get what your saying, I just don't think Steinbrenner is the best guy to use to make this point. As for his business success, I've read conflicting accounts, but from what I understand most of the money used to purchase the team did not come from him. He had partners and one of the major partners was a Jewish family (some say they still have an ownership stake) so maybe the success was in their zichus.
BJG: I don't see a problem with using Steinbrenner to make this point is wrong at all. Just because the comparison is made doesn't mean that you have to do EVERY thing he has done. Just look at what his goal was and what was accomplished. SD was just saying that he was focused on winning.
I'm with BJG on this one. When there's an article in the NYTimes on the day someone dies like this one (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/sports/baseball/14anderson.html?_r=1&scp=10&sq=steinbrenner&st=cse), there's a major problem...
as avdei Hashem, that is what we are supposed to do, live our lives dedicated to His service, constantly being aware of what we are doing and if it would make our Father proud..sometimes the decision is obvious and sometimes you have to ask da'as Torah
Yehuda: As I said in my comment "I do get what your saying, I just don't think Steinbrenner is the best guy to use to make this point.". There are lots of ppl who were focused on winning who are unworthy of being used as examples for how we as Jews should behave, I think Steinbrenner is one of those. This has nothing to do with my hatred of the Yankees ;-)
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