George Steinbrenner: ‘The Boss’ Yankees fans learned to love

Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch!

Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead.

This seemed to be the anthem of Yankee-hating baseball fans across the country on Tuesday after the death of longtime Bombers owner George M. Steinbrenner III.

The man had his enemies as well as people worldwide cursing his name and the franchise he owned for more than three decades. Some of these people were even residents of the Big Apple. (There’s no place like home?)

But, as much as Yankees fans hated the constant managerial flip-flopping of his early days of ownership, and his short fuse and tendency to aggressively call out players in his later years, the one thing they respected most of all was his desire to win World Series titles.

Yankees fans are harassed on a daily basis by others who take offense to the Yanks’ penchant for spending money and winning. Literally, the only defense for the Yankees fan was to turn these perceived points of contention into the very reasons why the Yankees are loved.

You know you wish your team had 27 titles. And a payroll of over $200 million each year. Bigger, better, badder. It’s the New York way. How can a stunned Yankee hater possibly rebuff?

And there is no person who embodied this more than Steinbrenner himself.

When he began his tenure in the Bronx after purchasing the Bombers from CBS in 1973, the Yankees were a laughing stock. Last-place finishes were routine. Steinbrenner’s unorthodox and abrasive style served to distance some fans early on. However, within four years — largely through the brand-new practice of free agents signings — the Yankees were a championship-caliber team once again. Back-to-back titles followed, and fans in New York were warming up to Steinbrenner.

Another Series drought followed in the 1980s, as Steinbrenner went through players and managers like they were strike on box matches. Piniella, Winfield, Henderson, Barfield all came and went as Yankees during the decade. Steinbrenner changed managers 12 times. The combative Martin alone was hired and fired four times over a 14-year period. Frustrated fans once again began complaining and clamoring for a more stable leader, only to suffer through a decade-plus of horrible baseball.

But in the 1990s a funny thing happened: Steinbrenner’s crazy tactics changed a little. He let his “baseball people” do most of the cosmetic work to the team, which included home-grown player development in addition to free agency, while he sat back and watched his investment pay off.

You know the rest. The Yankees won four out of five World Series to close out the ‘90s and had yet another set of glory days. It was really thanks to this most recent Yankees dynasty that the Yankees and their fans get most of their flak; prior to that (and those two championships in the late ‘70s), free agency was non-existent. Free agency allowed Yankees fans to be brasher, more obnoxious and to feel even more entitled to titles.

Once The Boss learned to use his money to his advantage, the winning followed. From every arrogant, diehard, and truly content Yankees fan across the world, I have five words:

Thank God for George Steinbrenner.