Peter Golenbock’s George is a fascinating look at one of the most controversial owners in the history of professional sports leaving the reader very unsympathetic of Steinbrenner.

In George, Golenbock shows us the story of Steinbrenner’s upbringing under the feared hand of his father, his college years trying to make friends with athletes and influencers, his career, starting with some Big Ten football coaching jobs he acquired by lying about playing for the New York Giants, his stewardship of American Ship and then his purchase of the New York Yankees. Through it all, George was either receiving preferential treatment because of his rich parents or, once he became rich, using his power to bully others.

Golenbock used interviews with Steinbrenner’s childhood friends and New York Yankee officials to offer great detail in this book. Many of the interviews, for example with Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson, came from Golenbock’s previous books. He’s already been acclaimed for writing The Bronx Zoo (with Sparky Lyle) and Number 1 (With Billy Martin) about the Yankees.

George really tells you a lot about the man. He feared his father growing up because his father had an authoritarian presence inside and outside the house. Just like George, his father, Henry, would fire employees at will. George didn’t have a great relationship with his children either. Hank stayed away from American Shipping and from the Yankees for a while because he didn’t want to work with George.

You can’t blame him after all the hell George put Billy Martin and the rest of his staff through. He wanted all the credit, but it was really while George was suspended from baseball for using a gambler to find dirt on Dave Winfield–after he failed to uphold Winfield’s contract, causing a dispute–that the new management team started to rebuild the Yankees.

Steinbrenner would later go after Howie Spira, the man providing him dirt on Winfield, legally. That wasn’t the only time Steinbrenner turned on someone for his own transgressions. While he was being investigated for making illegal contributions to Richard Nixon, he used his power and influence to attempt to get his own attorney disbarred after attempting to have him take the fall.

There are some mentions of how Steinbrenner also helps children through charity work. The last chapter is entirely about George’s charity work and his friends–as if the book has to redeem itself after saying so many bad things about George–but most billionaires do a lot of charity work, especially billionaires who care so much about influence and public image.

“I have never known an asshole who so many people speak well of as George Steinbrenner,” one person was quoted as saying.

Of course people are going to speak well of him when he spends his whole life courting power and influence and making friends with the important.

“In Tampa alone, both a high school and a street are going to be named after him,” Golenbock wrote.

Of course Steinbrenner would want to donate a lot of money in order to have his name on such things.

Even the people George helped, he treated poorly. Ohio State football star Hopalong Cassady was one of those people whom George took under his wing and offered jobs for the rest of his career. Steve Blasky recalls sitting in George’s private box when George was telling Cassady, “Move your ass. Get the drinks.” Blasky responds, “That’s Hopalong Cassady. … How can you treat him like that?” to which George responds, “Well, he’s working for me now.”

Overall its an enthralling, well-written book about a great character. My biggest gripe is that it doesn’t go into enough detail on his business dealings. It kind of glosses over the successes that led him to become a billionaire. It goes into great detail about how George was a micromanaging egomaniac who brought the demise of the Yankees before his suspension, so I’d like to see how George was able to succeed in business with hire legendary temper and shortsightedness but not in baseball.

The book is available on Amazon. You can take a look at it here.

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