The Best of The Boss

Following up yesterday's post on the state of the Steinbrenner-Torre marriage, here's a partial list of King George's memorable moves.

"¢ Steinbrenner was indicted on 14 criminal counts on April 5, 1974, then pled guilty to making illegal contributions to Nixon's re-election campaign and obstruction of justice on August 23. He was suspended for two years, but later reduced that amount to nine months, with Steinbrenner returning to the Yankees in 1976.

On January 19, 1989, in one of the final acts of his presidency, Ronald Reagan granted Steinbrenner a full and unconditional pardon. (?!?)

"¢ After a Yankee loss in game three of the 1981 World Series in Los Angeles, Steinbrenner called a press conference in his hotel room. He proceeded to show off his left hand, which was in a cast, and various other injuries he claimed were the product of a fight with two Dodgers fans in the hotel elevator ("There are two guys in this town looking for their teeth and two guys who will probably sue me.") Nobody came forward about the fight, leading most to believe that he had made up the story of the fight in order to light a fire under the Yankees. That didn't happen, either.

"¢ On July 30, 1990 (my eleventh birthday), commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from baseball for life. A harsh penalty for a nonsensical crime. Steinbrenner paid Howie Spira, a small-time gambler, $40,000 to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield. He had sued his Boss for failing to pay Winfield's foundation the $300,000 guaranteed in his contract.

"¢ In 1985, sixteen games into the season, he fired Yankee icon and legend Yogi Berra. Berra was just one of twenty managers in George's first twenty-three years.

More Steinbrenner magic here, courtesy of Jeff Merron of ESPN Page 2.