How George Steinbrenner Warmed to Seinfeld

With the passing of legendary New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, everyone's telling their best stories about The Boss. In her column today, Maureen Dowd explained Steinbrenner's relationship with Seinfeld, a story told to her by David Sussman, former Chief Operating Officer of the Yanks. Jerry had requested permission to use a Yankee uniform on the show, and sent over a script:

"What are all of these references to "˜George' in the script?" Steinbrenner demanded. Sussman was stunned but tried to explain: ""˜George' is George Costanza. He is a character on the show. He is a friend of Seinfeld's, and he plays the role of one of your employees." Steinbrenner acted incredulous, intoning: "I thought you were smarter than that. Don't you see? This is how they are trying to get at me. They have named their character after me." All attempts to tell him that the "George" character had been on the show since it started were brushed aside. "Here's what we do," Steinbrenner declared. "Call your friend Jerry back and tell him he has Mr. Steinbrenner's permission to use the Yankees uniform but on one condition: He changes the name of the Costanza character. In fact, have him name this character after you, David."

The next week, Steinbrenner watched an episode and thought it was funny ("and the George character is great"). That's when he gave Jerry permission to use the Yankee uniform—which George Costanza promptly switched from polyester to cotton.

It is a natural fiber.