Obituaries

New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has died, according to his family. He died this morning at his Florida home at the age of 80.

Steinbrenner, an Ohio native who made his fortune in shipbuilding, took over Yankees in 1973, making him the longest-tenured owner in baseball. The team had been suffering through a streak of mediocrity when a group led by Steinbrenner purchased the team from CBS. Ironically, Steinbrenner said in 1973 that he planned to be a hands-off owner. Instead, he became probably the most involved owner in the game, spending big on the free-agent market and hiring and firing managers with comical frequency -- there were 20 managerial changes in the first 23 years of the Steinbrenner era.

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