The above statement is printed on a plaque that sits on George Steinbrenner’s desk. It’s a prized possession that he values as highly as the photo of General George Patton relieving himself in the Rhine on his way into Berlin to finish off the Nazis.

The photo was a gift from a member of the 3rd Army and it is no surprise that Steinbrenner would admire Patton. Their methods of command are strikingly similar. Like Old Blood and Guts Steinbrenner was brash, opinionated and driven to winning at all costs. He didn’t mind pissing people off and values the warrior while denigrating the lesser man. Under his command the 3rd Army was known as Patton’s Own and no doubt Steinbrenner viewed his Yankees the same way.

Patton ran afoul of authority for his hard edged ways and so did Steinbrenner. While he never slapped a soldier claiming to be shell shocked he leveled several players with remarks that had the same type of sting. Some of his best was describing Hideki Irabu as a fat, puss-y toad and referring to Dave Winfield as Mr. May in a less than flattering comparison to Mr. October Reggie Jackson. In fact, Hitler could be considered fortunate. He only had to deal with Patton once. Billy Martin was caught in the sights of Steinbrenner’s pearl handled pistols five times and was about to catch a sixth round prior to his death.

Steinbrenner was a flinty bastard, but he built a winner and maintained it with the help of Joe Torre. A backroom plot that would have appalled the conspirators in Julius Caesar eventually broke up the yin and yang of Torre and Steinbrenner. Just like time itself has robbed Steinbrenner of his ability to lead and, having never been a follower, reduced him to getting the hell out of the way. 

In 1973 George Steinbrenner paid the best $10 million he ever spent to purchase the New York Yankees from CBS. The Columbia Broadcasting System seemed determined to make the Mets the most popular and successful franchise on NYC. Finally Chairman William S. Paley decided to let the storied franchise off the hook by instructing to have it put up for sale. Having fallen short in an effort to purchase the Cleveland Indians Steinbrenner took his shipping magnate money and headed to New York.

Steinbrenner lost no time shaking the foundations of the American League and MLB. He barely had time to dust off his plaque and hang his photo before he was accused of tampering. Dick Williams resigned from his managerial position with the Oakland A’s with the intention of taking the same position with the Yankees. Both AL and MLB ruled he was still under contract to the A’s and the Yankees were tampering by trying to hire him.

While all that was happening Yankees President E. Michael Burke was being repaid for tipping Steinbrenner to the team’s sale by having The Boss shove him out of the picture for Gabe Paul. Steinbrenner’s first moves in his new role would prove that people in the Court of Henry VIII had more longevity than Yankees employees.

Messing around with the office personnel wasn’t the only thing Steinbrenner did in his first year as The Boss. Ensconced in his owners box on opening day of the ’73 season Steinbrenner was waiting to see his Yankees do battle with his former love, the Indians. As the players were introduced he was disgusted that several of the pinstriped aristocrats had hair growing down the very back of those cherished and venerated pinstripes. Since their uniforms do not bear names Steinbrenner recorded the numbers of the offenders and dispatched Ralph Houk, a man whose background suggested he had far more important things to contribute, to inform the miscreants that they must comply with the new standard of grooming The Boss was initiating.

Hair cannot extend below the collar and the only facial hair permitted is a moustache. When asked to rationalize his grooming standards Steinbrenner merely replied, “If you’re in my army, you obey my rules.” He’d then remind you that he pays his soldiers pretty damned well and, for Steinbrenner, that is an understatement.

Pay has often been the sticking point for the many detractors of the Yankees and The Boss. The team for which it has been said that rooting for them is like rooting for U.S. Steel opened it wallet up during Steinbrenner’s reign and his heirs apparent have not tightened the straps. At times The Boss was the proverbial kid in the candy store. He saw Reggie Jackson and he wanted him, so he figured out how much he would cost and the Reggie bar was added to his collection of nuts.

Steinbrenner often had more money than insight, so highs and lows were equal until his unlikely hiring of Joe Torre to manage the team that the mega buck making superstars would coalesce and rattle off a series of World Series wins. Hiring Torre may have been one of the most unusual moves ever made in Steinbrenner’s run with the Yankees. Known for going after the top dollar free agent regardless of whether or not he would fit the need, much less be accepted in the clubhouse, Steinbrenner chose the low key Torre, a move that was greeted with headlines reading “Clueless Joe”.

Torre proved those in the press wrong by lasting 12 years and leading the Yankees to the playoff every season. The deterioration of Steinbrenner’s health, along with factious underlings attempting to pull the strings of the once bellicose leader now render inaudible by age and onset of possible Alzheimer’s symptoms, forced Torre out in one of the truly most embarrassing moments in Yankees history.

While George sat silent at his desk, his sons, primed to take the reins form their faltering father, made an offer to Torre that was more of an insult than a serious contractual move. Torre walked away after trying to have one last chance to talk to The Boss. But, his silence was more than the arrogance and bluster of earlier years. It was the sad sinking into old age that Steinbrenner has embarked upon.

It has been reported that George Steinbrenner will be in attendance at Yankee Stadium for the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s a new home now, not the former haunt of The Boss. Time replaces everything including the House That Ruth Built and The Boss. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way. In life all of us do either the first or the second and eventually we must do the third; even George Steinbrenner is no exception.