The Boss of the Bronx: Remembering George Steinbrenner's Turbulent Yankees Reign

George Steinbrenner once called a New York Post reporter at 3:30 in the morning while driving to spring training in Tampa. It was 2003, and the Super Bowl was happening in San Diego — three hours behind New York. Steinbrenner saw no conflict. This was simply how The Boss operated.

That anecdote surfaces in Mike Vaccaro's new book, The Bosses of the Bronx: The Endless Drama of the Yankees Under the House of Steinbrenner. Vaccaro spent two decades covering the Yankees as the New York Post's lead sports columnist, and his account benefits enormously from that proximity. He sat courtside to history — or, more precisely, along the third-base line.

The Steinbrenner era began in January 1973, when the Cleveland shipping magnate and his partners purchased the Yankees from CBS for $8.8 million. At the time, the franchise was languishing. Within a few years, it became the most valuable sports property in America. Under Steinbrenner's watch, the Yankees won seven World Series championships, powered by legends like Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter.

But glory came with chaos. Steinbrenner was suspended from baseball twice — first for two years in 1974 for illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon, then for life in 1990 after paying a gambler to dig up dirt on outfielder Dave Winfield. Both times, he clawed his way back. Both times, baseball welcomed him again.

The defining relationship of his tenure was with Billy Martin, who managed the Yankees in five separate spells. Martin and Steinbrenner were made for each other in the worst possible way: both hated losing more than they loved winning, both were immovable in their convictions, and neither could fully accept that the other was in charge. Vaccaro describes how Martin never quite accepted that Steinbrenner was the boss — a title Steinbrenner gave himself from day one, and one that drove Martin to distraction.

The book also details how the Yankees nearly traded away four future Hall of Famers — Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera — in a proposed deal for Oakland's Rickey Henderson. General manager Gene Michael talked the team out of it, and Steinbrenner's patience during his second exile from baseball allowed Michael to protect what would become the core of a dynasty.

When Steinbrenner returned in 1995, the stage was set for Joe Torre and a run of four championships in five years. The Yankees became a business phenomenon too, launching the YES Network and eventually climbing to a valuation Vaccaro estimates at $7 billion to $10 billion.

Steinbrenner's son Hal now runs the franchise. Some fans wonder whether the current leadership has the same fire. Vaccaro acknowledges those concerns while noting that Hal carries his father's belief in what the Yankees should represent.

The Dodgers may dominate the headlines now, but as Vaccaro reminds us, baseball remains a crapshoot. The sport has a way of humbling even the mightiest rosters. Steinbrenner understood that better than anyone — and his dynasty was built not just on stars, but on the relentless pursuit of every last advantage. That, perhaps, is his truest legacy.