THE BOSS GETS BANNED

September 27, 2023

Good evening. This is Dead Legends. The daily newsletter that drops into your inbox like a Max Fried curveball.

Let’s dive in.

Today’s story is about a team owner that tried to blackmail a player, and in the process, accidentally created a dynasty.

George Steinbrenner aka “the boss" was one of the most successful franchise owners in sports history, but he certainly wasn’t without his flaws.

He was known for doling out huge contracts for big talent, but he also had an extremely short leash, which created fractured relationships with many of his players and personnel.

In 1980, Steinbrenner gave Dave Winfield the biggest contract in MLB history up to that point.

10 years. $23 Million.

Completely unheard of at the time.

That was pretty much the start and end of the "good times" between Winfield and Steinbrenner.

Winfield got in several legal disputes with the Yankees over his 10 years, and also vetoed the attempts New York made to trade him.

In 1990, he sued the organization again after they did not contribute to his foundation, which was written into his contract.

Instead of donating the $300,000 that was promised, Steinbrenner decided to pay a gambler named Howard Spira $40K to “dig up some dirt” and blackmail Winfield.

Who is Howard Spira??

He claimed to have worked as an unpaid publicist for Winfield’s foundation – Winfield’s people say that’s false.

Howie claimed the outfielder was misappropriating funds from the foundation.

In reality, it appears that Spira was just a down-on-his-luck gambler from the Bronx that was opportunistic.

Based on what I've read, my guess is that he owed money to some bad people and saw this as his way out.

Spira said Steinbrenner promised him $150,000, a job, and residence at a hotel Steinbrenner owned.

Ultimately he only got $40K, and Spira was convicted in 1991 of trying to extort Steinbrenner.

He served 22 months in prison.

Fay Vincent, the commissioner at the time, banned George Steinbrenner from day-to-day ops for life, but he was allowed to remain an owner.

His “lifetime” ban was rescinded in 1993, but it’s arguably the best thing that ever happened to the Yankees franchise.

With Steinbrenner gone, general manager, Gene Michael, was able to operate for a few years without anyone breathing down his neck.

During the ban, the Yankees drafted Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.

On top of that, Bernie Williams, whom Steinbrenner wanted to trade, remained a Yankee and continued to develop, and the team traded for Paul O’Neill.

They went on to win rings in ‘96, ‘98, ‘99, and 2000.

Not a snowball’s chance in hell that would’ve happened with “the boss” behind the wheel.

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STRANGE NAMES

If you're just joining us, we play this game every day where we try to find the weirdest names throughout baseball history.

Why? Don't ask us, it's just something we like to do.

If you've been rocking with us for awhile now, you know what time it is.

Today's winner is:

Bobo played for more than half of the teams in the league during the course of his career.

He might not have the best ERA or the most wins, but the guy was an absolute work horse.

He threw a total of 3,759.1 innings over a 20-year span in the big leagues.

Newsom is one of only 29 players in baseball history to have appeared in Major League games in four different decades.

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