Born on Third Base: Woody, SIAS & Trump

[ShaneTrot]

Loljets
“@SIPeteThamel: Told today the Jets are unlikely landing spot for Jim Harbaugh. They interviewed him when they hired Rex. Woody wasn’t impressed.”

Woody is in the lucky sperm club. I could buy a team if one of my great-grandfathers was the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. Nothing in his business background says that he is a entrepreneur or great business builder. He could not get a stadium built and still has to share Met stadium with the Giants. I love when guys like this act like they know what they are doing.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

Maybe that's a good filter for a top HC: only work for an owner who made his own fortune. That way, he at least remembers a time when people didn't reflexively kiss his ass, and knows about having to build and listen to a team.

 

[Buster Olney the Lonely]

Woody is in the lucky sperm club. I could buy a team if one of my great-grandfathers was the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. Nothing in his business background says that he is a entrepreneur or great business builder. He could not get a stadium built and still has to share Met stadium with the Giants. I love when guys like this act like they know what they are doing.

I'm so glad he owns the Jets. Say what you want about Dan Snyder, but at least he started several successful businesses.

I'm fairly sure that my dog is smarter than "Woody."

 

[8slim]

It is kind of funny that New Yorkers love to think of themselves as these unique, gritty, tough, make-it-here-make-it-anywhere types,...while many of their beloved teams are owed by spoiled rich kids who were born on third base: Johnson, Dolan, Steinbrenner.

 

[H78]

Woody is the greatest troll the world has ever known. Whereas Dan Snyder is a terrible owner he is surpassed by Woody's artistic choices.

 
During Sunday's Pats game, there was a prerecorded video that had him, his trophy wife, and their perfectly clothed and manicured kids standing in front of a cheap fireplace wishing all of Jets nation a warm holiday season. Boos POURED into the stadium. I couldn't stop laughing at how brilliant the video was, it made me appreciate Woody on a whole new level.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

It is kind of funny that New Yorkers love to think of themselves as these unique, gritty, tough, make-it-here-make-it-anywhere types,...while many of their beloved teams are owed by spoiled rich kids who were born on third base: Johnson, Dolan, Steinbrenner.

granting your point, George S made his own fortune, right? Or did he inherit the shipbuilding business?

We can probably add the Maras onto your list, too.

 

[dcmissle]

A bit of both. Stein's family was big in shipping since the 19th century in the Great Lakes region. But George did branch out on his own (with resources at his disposal, of course). So like Trump, he was much better off than the average guy, but added lots of value on his own.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

I'm obviously no fan of steinbrenner, but that probably undersells him. Trump started with a large fortune, and several tactical bankruptcies later, managed to make a small one out of it. His dad was a legitimately awesome businessman, but he's all hat and no cattle.

edit: Ted Turner was closer to your steinbrenner mould - started with a small media business, but made a huge one out of it.

 

[johnmd20]

I'm obviously no fan of steinbrenner, but that probably undersells him. Trump started with a large fortune, and several tactical bankruptcies later, managed to make a small one out of it. His dad was a legitimately awesome businessman, but he's all hat and no cattle.

edit: Ted Turner was closer to your steinbrenner mould - started with a small media business, but made a huge one out of it.

 
Trump, when he didn't have the benefit of a half a billion dollar trust that he inherited, bankrupted every venture he has ever been involved in and he's not broke solely b/c he couldn't break the trust and blow that particular set of money. He's the most overrated businessman and person in history. He's terrible in all regards.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

A bit of both. Stein's family was big in shipping since the 19th century in the Great Lakes region. But George did branch out on his own (with resources at his disposal, of course). So like Trump, he was much better off than the average guy, but added lots of value on his own.

But the original point remains. H & H Steinbrenner didn't build anything.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

But the original point remains. H & H Steinbrenner didn't build anything.

yes, which is why I led my post that started this tangent with, "granting your point...". I just couldnt recall whether George made or inherited his own fortune.

 

[dcmissle]

But the original point remains. H & H Steinbrenner didn't build anything.

That's interesting and revealing. I just assumed the reference was to George because his kids of course built nothing. My bad.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

George was alot of things we like to make fun of here, but he was also a successful businessman and an extremely charitable man, including huge donations to the Jimmy Fund, and a naming donation for the football field at MIT.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

Trump is really the worst example of this; by all account, he is worth somewhere on the order of $300M, which is approximately what he inherited in nominal dollars from his father. So, taken into account inflation, he's actually destroyed wealth. Simply putting it all into risk free bonds over that time frame would have vastly outperformed his multi-decade shitshow. 

 

[johnmd20]

Trump is really the worst example of this; by all account, he is worth somewhere on the order of $300M, which is approximately what he inherited in nominal dollars from his father. So, taken into account inflation, he's actually destroyed wealth. Simply putting it all into risk free bonds over that time frame would have vastly outperformed his multi-decade shitshow. 

 
Pretty much 100% yes. He's never made a dime for himself and he's bankrupted every company he's been involved in. It's a string of failure we haven't seen until the Idzik administration came around.

 

[Old Fart Tree]

That's what's so frustrating about people feting him, pretending he's a viable candidate, holding him up as this paragon of self-made wealth. He's not even the guy who was born on third and thinks he hit a triple; he's the guy who was born on third, stole second base, and thinks he hit a home run. 

 

[Average Reds]

George was alot of things we like to make fun of here, but he was also a successful businessman and an extremely charitable man, including huge donations to the Jimmy Fund, and a naming donation for the football field at MIT.

 
An awful lot of misinformation about SiAS and his business acumen.
 
Steinbrenner's ancestors built the shipping business.  Most specifically, his father is the one who built their family business to a point where it could be merged with American Shipbuilding and allow them to take control of that company.  George inherited that business from his father.
 
Steinbrenner's most notable accomplishment at the helm of American Shipbuilding was when he used it as a vehicle to launder illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon.  He was later caught lying to investigators and setting up a scheme to suborn perjury from his employees.  As a business executive, Steinbrenner was a failure and after three decades of his management American Shipbuilding declared bankruptcy and eventually was scrapped (literally) in an asset sale.
 
As to what a great human being he was, it's instructive to note that Steinbrenner avoided jail in the 70s only because his lawyer at the time (Edward Bennett Williams) performed a legal miracle by arranging a plea agreement for a single count of obstruction.  Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski was so appalled at the outcome that he personally argued against it in court, to no avail. 
 
If Steinbrenner had been caught doing the same thing today, he'd go away for a decade or more because American Shipbuilding was a public company.  Steinbrenner showed his appreciation for Williams by refusing to pay his legal bill and later attempting to have Williams blocked from acquiring the Baltimore Orioles. 
 
Through luck and perseverance, the Yankees became a successful franchise under Steinbrenner.  But the business side of it was almost completely luck, as he tried for decades to move the Yankees to the Meadowlands or (later) to build a domed multipurpose stadium elsewhere in NY.  Either move would have destroyed much of the value of the franchise.
 
He has contributed a lot to charity in order to rehabilitate his image as a humanitarian.
 
End of rant.

 

[johnmd20]

 
 
He has contributed a lot to charity in order to bump up his image.  But let's not pretend that Steinbrenner was some sort of business tycoon and great humanitarian.  He is what we thought he was.

 
Thank you. Steinbrenner inherited a very successful business and used some of the assets from this business to buy the Yankees for almost nothing, when the city was nearly bankrupt and on fire and before the TV contracts exploded in the fashion they have. That was his greatest accomplishment and it turned into a billion dollar trade.
 
Also, Steinbrenner's 2nd greatest accomplishment was dying during the one year there was no estate tax in the United States, saving his kids a half a billion dollars. When your best move is dying at the right time, you suck.
 
Trump and Steiney are cut from the same cloth. Lucky in life due to from whom they were born, grateful for none of it, and loudmouth idiots on top of that. Both are heralded and both should be derided. I think it sucks when people like this are considered anything other than what they are.
 
edit - and say what you will about Dolan, who is also a world class idiot and hideous businessman, but at least he's not a loudmouth. He fails outside the public eye, which is, at least, a sign he knows how lucky he is.

 

[soxfan121]

 
I think it sucks when people like this are considered anything other than what they are.

 
Shit in a suit?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Stein was also pretty good at paying Howard Spira to spy on his own players.

 

[johnmd20]

 
Shit in a suit?

 
I don't think too many feel that way about Steinbrenner and I also don't think people thought this about Trump until recently, when he started spouting off the most ridiculous of statements.

 

[Phil Plantier]

 
 
He has contributed a lot to charity in order to rehabilitate his image as a humanitarian.
 
End of rant.

Taking issue with this paragraph: I have seen first-hand the outsized charity of the Yankees, often given without seeking publicity. I have no love for them or Steinbrenner, but what they do for the city and the community goes far beyond image rehabilitation.

 

[Average Reds]

Taking issue with this paragraph: I have seen first-hand the outsized charity of the Yankees, often given without seeking publicity. I have no love for them or Steinbrenner, but what they do for the city and the community goes far beyond image rehabilitation.

 
Take issue with it all you want.  Anyone who fucks over as many people for as long as George did can give his entire fortune away and it won't change my belief that his charitable efforts are merely attempts to buy absolution.

 

[mwonow]

 
I don't think too many feel that way about Steinbrenner and I also don't think people thought this about Trump until recently, when he started spouting off the most ridiculous of statements.

 
Enough people think that way about Steinbrenner so that nobody who's been on this board long enough to remember when he was still breathing doubts who "SIAS" refers to, or why the acronym is what it is...

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

thanks for the history lesson, AR.

it would be interesting to see a study that divided ownership in major sports leagues, classifying as inherited fortune, inherited ownership, or self-made - and see whether long-term team success correlates at all.

 

[Philip Jeff Frye]

it would be interesting to see a study that divided ownership in major sports leagues, classifying as inherited fortune, inherited ownership, or self-made - and see whether long-term team success correlates at all.

A business associate of mine is a minority owner of an MLB team. He described to me that baseball team owners could be split into three roughly equal sizes groups: 1) good, smart businessmen 2) idiots who had inherited their wealth but who were basically harmless and 3) outright crooks.

 

[BannedbyNYYFans.com]

A business associate of mine is a minority owner of an MLB team. He described to me that baseball team owners could be split into three roughly equal sizes groups: 1) good, smart businessmen 2) idiots who had inherited their wealth but who were basically harmless and 3) outright crooks.

 
I think it was Shaugnessy who once wrote about Billy Sullivan, "Some owners are from Old Money, some are from New Money....Billy was from No Money".  

 

[HriniakPosterChild]

... he tried for decades to move the Yankees to the Meadowlands or (later) to build a domed multipurpose stadium elsewhere in NY.  Either move would have destroyed much of the value of the franchise.

 
Hell, moving across the street seems to have put a good-sized dent in it.

 

[Devizier]

It's too bad that Jamie Johnson didn't profile Woody in his documentary about the idiot children of rich people.