The lesson George Steinbrenner taught me!

With Mr. Steinbrenner’s 90th birthday passing by this weekend, I wanted to share a story!

When you look back at the annals of Yankees History, 1998 is certainly in the discussion as one of the best years in franchise history. The Yankees won 125 Games total and the World Series handily. It was also one of the most magical seasons for me personally. I went to over 40 homes games, every home playoff game and game one of the World Series.

Through a mutual friend, I met a man named Andy Godchaux who had worked for the Yankees longer than Bob Shepherd. One of Andy’s many jobs in life was to be the security guard in Mr. Steinbrenner’s office. He had invited me to a few games and let me have access in and around the Stadium.

It was a magical summer of great baseball and I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people. On any given night, I could meet a Yankees legend like Bobby Murcer, a baseball god like Frank Robinson, a huge political figure like Mayor Giuliani, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes fame and even the Secretary of the U.N. Kofi Annan. Unbeknownst to me, I almost drove Bob Shepherd to the game one night! (Will share that story another time.) 

One of the benefits of knowing Andy, was when I would bring a guest, we could show them the World Series trophy from 1977 and take a picture with it. The only time that was not possible was when Mr. Steinbrenner was in his office. When he was there, everyone stood a little taller and you could feel there was a rising tension.

I had never seen or met Mr. Steinbrenner despite all the times I was there. That would change before game one of the World Series in 1998. As I approached the office to try and show my sister Traci Donnelly the trophy, a man appeared leaving the office in a blue sport coat and white turtleneck. It could not have been him because he was not tall enough and he walked around without security. We decided to double check if it is him.

I had imagined that Mr. Steinbrenner was a giant flanked with guards. As this man was walking, he bent down and picked up a wax paper hot dog wrapper that someone carelessly discarded on the floor. The man bent down and put it in his pocket and kept walking. As he was walking, suddenly the figured turned around and began to head back to the office and we were standing there. IT WAS HIM!

As he looked right at us and knew we recognized him, my sister and I were both in shock and I stuck out my hand, almost speechless. He shook my hand and he was cordial but clearly not looking to have a conversation with two fans. Despite the million questions I wanted to ask, the only thing that came to mind was the Hot Dog wrapper and he seemed amused and gave a sly smile.

“Of course, I picked it up, this is my house and I don’t ask people to do anything I am not willing to do,” he said to us in the exact tone you would expect.

We stood in awe and with complete admiration. Something so miniscule meant so much to him. He gave us a few more minutes and started to move past us, he also shared that Kevin Brown, who was starting game one for the Padres, was going to be a Yankee someday.

I never forgot that and any negative impression that lingered from my childhood were gone forever. It was a one of the most valuable lessons I ever learned, and tried to practice in every leadership role I have ever had. Another lesson that stuck out to me, sometimes you need to focus on the little things first! He never measured the Yankees success by his balance sheet, he measured it by wins, more importantly World Series wins and the product he put on the field for the fans.

Whether you like him or not, there is no debating his success. He set a standard of excellence and restored the Yankees brand to greatness…one hot dog wrapper at a time!