George Steinbrenner

Derek Jeter came into professional baseball in 1992 when he was drafted 6th by New York. George Steinbrenner, the owner of the Yankees, had been there every year Jeter was and won five titles with him. Alex Rodriguez was traded to the Yankees in 2004 and won his first World Series ring last year. A-Rod leads the All Stars this year with 13 appearances in the Midsummer Classic. Unfortunately, Jeter, Rodriguez and the six other Yankees All Stars will be playing their first game as Yankees without Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner, the team's owner since 1973, passed away this morning after a heart attack in Tampa, Florida. He turned 80 just nine days ago.

"The Boss" was known by some for a few questionable decisions, but he did win seven World Series titles as the owner. Whether people liked him or not, he was committed to winning and one of the most successful owners in the game of baseball. He won the American League East 16 times and the AL pennant 11 times. Though I knew he was an important figure, I never realized how big of an impact he had on the Yankees and the game of baseball until today when ESPN had coverage reminiscing about him all day long. The Yankees were worth almost $10 million when he got together with a group and bought the team in 1973. Now, almost four decades later, the organization is worth over 160 times more than that, at about $1.6 billion.

Steinbrenner passed away right when the Yankees are getting back to late-1990s form. Last year's World Series win was the first for the Yanks since 2000, and it's great for the organization that they won it in their first year at the new Yankee Stadium. They have the best record in the majors at the break with 56 wins and just 32 losses. They had four pitchers and four position players on the All Star team. Even Mark Teixeira is starting to come alive at the plate with hits in 20 of his last 22 games. Everything is clicking together for the Bronx Bombers right now, and it looks like the defending champions are going to be tough to stop in October, especially with the motivation of winning a ring again for their owner.