Above all, Cleveland native Steinbrenner left a legacy as a winner, former PD sports writer says.
Welcome to a special edition of Starting Blocks TV, our five-minute video sports show that appears each weekday.
Today's special edition features former Plain Dealer sports writer Bob Dolgan as the guest, and he talks with hosts Bill Lubinger and Chuck Yarborough about the passing of George Steinbrenner. The Cleveland native nearly bought the Indians in the 1970s before heading to New York and turning the Yankees into one of the world's most valuable sports franchises.
Dolgan got to know Steinbrenner during his years as a PD columnst and says he was the only sportswriter in Cleveland who could get a phone call back from Steinbrenner within 24 hours. Indeed, the two old warhorses of the baseball world very nearly rode off into the sunset together, figuratively speaking: Steinbrenner gave one of his last interviews to Dolgan in 2006, which Dolgan called the last big story of his career.
Dolgan remembers when Steinbrenner owned the old Cleveland Pipers basketball team of the industrial league and tried to persuade Ohio State star Jerry Lucas to join the team.
Steinbrenner had fainted at a memorial service for former Browns star Otto Graham in 2003, appeared weak in 2006 at the groundbreaking for the new Yankee Stadium and later became ill while watching his granddaughter in a college play. In recent times, Steinbrenner let sons Hal and Hank run more of the family business.
Click here to read Bob Dolgan's full obituary of Steinbrenner.