NT-3225

Title Slate: The Eleventh Hour #225, Steinbrenner, Rec: 9/21/89; Dir. Andrew Wilk

Show Opens. Large George Steinbrenner baseball card overlay other smaller Yankee players cards.

Talking head male talking with unseen reporter stating he doesn't think he's (sic Steinbrenner) is a terrible fellow, his heart is in the game and Yankees, he's just had some bad advice

Talking head female Yankee fan talking with unseen interviewer about Yankees. Young boy behind her wearing Yankees jacket drinkina can of Pepsi.

Host Robert Lipsyte states that "George Steinbrenner has made "owner" the key position on the Yankees".

The Eleventh Hour graphic and show opener.

Close up on rendering of Revolutionary war drum.

Photo rendering of Revolutionary War Fife and Drum Corp

Rendering of Revolutionary war Fife and Drum Corp drummer and New York City skyline background - "we plan absentee ownership" - George Jan.3., 1973 overlay. Host Lipsyte narrating about Steinbrenner's ownership of the NY Yankees Baseball Team.

Full moon

Ralph Houk in Red Sox baseball uniform seated at desk holding cigar, large bubble thought reads: "Yeah I Was 'Georged'!!!" as Lipsyte narrates how Steinbrenner had been through six managers with a hands on management style

Steinbrenner signing autograph for fan

Pan the harbor in Tampa, Florida. (Steinbrenner owns ship building corporation here.)

Magazine article about Steinbrenner's ship building company, headline reads: "George's Other Team Plays in a Tough League

var newspapers - headlines read: "On the Job Straining", "George Won Pardon with Testimonials".

var. articles iand photos of Steinbrenner in different publications about Steinbrenner

Wide shot baseball field, game in progress, players running bases.

Photo of Yogi Berra in NY Yankees jacket and hat with bubble thought: "It Ain't Over till it's Over"

American Revolutionary Fife and Drum Corp - rendering.

Skyline Tampa Bay high rise condominiums

Close up - partial Yankee stadium - only "Yankee" in the frame

Sail boat in Tampa, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, kids playing in the water at the beach.

Exterior sign on building in Tampa reads:- Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tampa, Inc. 3020 West Laurel St. Steinbrenner Center

Hand turning pages in looseleaf notebook.

New York Yankees baseball cards with an enlarged baseball card of George Steinbrenner Overlay in the center..

Wide shot The Eleventh Hour studio with Host Robert Lipsyte sitting in semicircle with guests.

INTERVIEW CONTINUES:

Robert Lipsyte 11:26
you think he means well?

Jim Bouton 11:29
Well, by his own by his own code, yes.

Robert Lipsyte 11:31
do you think his behavior is appropriate.

Jim Bouton 11:37
I don't think it's I don't think it's appropriate. I think it's self defeating. I think he's, he's almost the perfect model of how not to manage. He violates all the rules of good management, how not to run a business. You need to respect your people, you need to give them credit for the success. That's how you managed successfully see one of the problems George has that he said, He's, I am the Yankees. He's going to apologize when they do bad and the players also know that he's going to take credit when the Yankees the Yankees, whatever, when George would say this is my gift to New York City. No, I, I did this. He's He's out front. And as you said, He's the star of the team. And I think the players resent that on some level.

Robert Lipsyte 12:14
Does that have an impact on their performance?

Jim Bouton 12:16
Absolutely. absolutely. Um, baseball, at that level is there's a lot of mental going on. When you're up at bat, when you're out there on the mound. The difference between success and failure, a lot times has to do with what's going on in your mind consciously and unconsciously. And I think that unconsciously, the players sabotage George Steinbrenner on some level. First of all, they don't like him, because they know he doesn't respect them as people. So they're looking to sabotage him, just like disgruntled union employee doesn't tighten the bolts quite like they should. Okay, so these guys are up at bat. And they know that no matter what happens, something good will happen. Either they'll win the game, they'll be happy because they won, or they lost the game. And Steinbrenner is going to be suffering from this. And so there's this perverse pleasure that they get out of losing, and they'll never quite win, because you can't go up to home plate with the part of you hoping for a win. And the other part not caring, because you're going to get back at George Steinbrenner. And I think that's what's going on.

Robert Lipsyte 13:16
Well, as a fan, something like that. Could outrage you?

Prof Bob Gurland 13:19
Well, I, I think it's what Jim says is interesting, because I always look at George's relation as a power relation both not only to the fans, but to his players. And interestingly, that power differential lies in money on one side, and talent on the other. And money in a peculiar way, controls talent. Money, says the talent, I'm going to give you the arena to exhibit your talent. But at the same time, I had the power and that power to say, I'm going to train you to Oakland, I'm going to have you sit on a bench, I'm going to send you to Columbus. And in that kind of dialectic, George really is somehow telling the player, I have ascendancy over you, I have the money even though you have the talent,

Jim Bouton 14:04
I own your contract. And therefore you have to do what I say I'm the boss and the players don't mind the owner owning their contract, but they don't want the owner owning their soul you see and that's what's really going on here. The players don't want their soul owned. They don't want Steinbrenner to own their performance and to own their their guts and whatever they're putting into the game to see and he takes credit for that and they don't want him to get credit for it.

Bill Fugazi 14:29
Jim, I think you're so wrong. Let me just say this the I've been around these players for a long time. And I can tell you they chase George. And I can tell you this that all of these players that he had problems with the Reggie Jackson's the Tommy John's, they all call and they all want to come back and when they come back, they're thrilled. And let me tell you something else that people don't realize. That's true. That's true when I was with Reggie, when he was here when he was fighting with Joe. First of all, George has a lot of principal George had no reason and interest plus interest on his principal. And by the way, there's no team in baseball ever made the money the New York Yankees do George bought the Yankees for some $8 million. You couldn't buy the New York Yankees today for half a billion

Jim Bouton 15:14
Yeah, but not because of George Steinbrenner because they're in the New York market

Bill Fugazi 15:17
No, no. Do the Mets ever make a half a billion dollars on a TV deal.

Jim Bouton 15:23
They haven't I don't know. Maybe they'll not even close a deal. Well George Steinbrenner selling Mickey Mantle Joe DiMaggio, the history of Yankee Stadium he's selling all of it you think the TV people are buying George Steinbrenner?

Bill Fugazi 15:34
I think they're buying the New York Yankees right?

Jim Bouton 15:36
But they're buying what if what if they were what if they had won five pennants in a row? What do you think kind of a deal

Bill Fugazi 15:41
There isnt an owner in baseball was bright enough to negotiate the deal that George Steinbrenner just did with Madison Square. He got

Jim Bouton 15:49
marvin miller could, marvin miller could have negotiated that kind of a deal for all the teams baseball survives in spite of its ownership. It's a great game. The fans love it. The players love to play it. They've got a lot of talent, and it's successful financially. In spite of those guys who sit in the office, they're superfulous

Bill Fugazi 16:05
Jim, show me one...

Robert Lipsyte 16:06
We have come we have come to both praise and bury him. Let's hold on just a second. If George Steinbrenner was a ballplayer, they would call him a gamer, a tough, smart competitor who hates to lose and example of George in action.

iHost Lipsyte pauses interview and introduces next segment. a story about a "banner" night for Steinbrenner

Fans walking holding large banner "Yankee Tradition...will Never Die!" Players numbers on baseball.

Lipsyte narrates about the "banner" night for George Steinbrenner. Yankees lost the game. Fans coming out of stands holding gigantic banners - mostly obscured

Norman Siegel, Executive Director, NY A.C.L.U. speaking with unseen reporter about the inappropriateness for the Yankees to confiscate fan's banners and that Steinbrenner should stop this policy and protect the rights of New Yorkers to have banners regardless of the content.

Talking head male fan talking about being ejected from the stands by security due to his banner that said pardon us George sell the Yankees.

Young boy in Yankee Stadium stands holding up da-glow green sign (illegible), official points to boy to sit down.

POV moving vehicle in the rain , windshield wipers on, streets wet.

Bumper to bumper traffic, cars, busses, trucks moving very slowly

Stadium packed with fans, banners hanging over stands. Lipsyte narrates about the unofficial "George Must Go Banner Contest" - an unofficial promotion to tell George "where to go!"

Fans holding large banner reads: Buy Low Sell High - and George's name in the middle of No symbol.

George's photo overlay the Yankees baseball logo

Kids walking on field holding large banner reads: We Love NY Yankees. Lipsyte narrates there were approximately 150 banners parading on the grounds before the game.

Scoreboard showing Mariners beating Yankees overlay Yankee baseball field

Fans holding up gigantic green and white banner in the stands showing it off to fans.

INTERVIEW
Father James DiGiacomo 19:34
explain him.
Robert Lipsyte 19:35
Yeah. What can you say about?
Father James DiGiacomo 19:39
Well, you know, he loves to witness you know, as Bill said, Surely his heart's in the right place. But, you know, Bill, it's true, you know, they make money and he closes deals and so on. But but we have fans, you know, we'd like to see the team win. And if and if they don't win, we'd like to see them lose with a little dignity. You know, when you hire Billy five times. It's silly. You feel humiliated. And
Bill Fugazi 20:05
Billy didn't mind too much
Father James DiGiacomo 20:07
Oh yeah, but We do. It's ridiculous.
Robert Lipsyte 20:10
Well also, I mean, the way the way he how role models are supposed to be these ballplayers who he manipulates treats like pets and intimidate us. I want I want to read my favorite. Everybody's got a favorite George Steinbrenner quote. This is something he said to me about a year ago and amazed me. He said, I'm one owner that they're not going to pull the wool over my eyes. I've been there. I've worn the jock strap.

INTERVIEW CONTINUED

Jim Bouton 20:35
I think that's a clue into the insight here. What he really hasn't. You see, he played some football in college, but he really never made it to the pros. And I think he's a very he's a frustrated athlete. And I think this is his his attempt to play for the New York Yankees or at that level

Robert Lipsyte 20:50
when you're in his box. Bill is his body English. He's moving with the pitches with

Bill Fugazi 20:56
every play. By the way, you're wrong, john, I mean, he may not have been a pro football player. He's a very good athlete. He was a top runner. He competed in Melrose games. And he's a good athlete, and boy, you know, he's no puss. I mean, he's a tough guy. He's not, he doesn't need anyone to protect them or be around him.

Jim Bouton 21:14
he punched somebody in an elevator once, didn't he. I mean, how many grown men get into a fight in an elevator

Robert Lipsyte 21:20
here, he got both wearing New York Yankee World Series ring, right? He earned his Well, you earned yours too. You're a friend of George's.

Bill Fugazi 21:29
that's one of the great pleasures of my life. Let me just say this to you. As far as the elevator goes,

Jim Bouton 21:33
you're not exactly an objective.

Bill Fugazi 21:37
I'll criticize George when he has to be criticized. But I mean, you mentioned the elevator. I happen to know about that incident. George was attacked in New York was they were booing New York and the guys were drunk. They wouldn't didn't even want their names printed. The George swing and well, you know, George wasn't a heavyweight champion. Well, maybe he doesn't have to throw a punch. I tell him he should throw it for the gut, not for the head. But that's neither here nor there. You can say what you want you can be for George's moves. You can be against George's will. George Steinbrenner does one good thing after another for this city, for this state for this country, for charities, more than anyone knows, just talked to the coach at Grambling. They didn't have any money, George flew to team to play a game for them. No one prints that stuff, just what he does for the police and fire in New York. I know what he does. I see the operations that he pays for,

Robert Lipsyte 22:31
let's say bottom line. I mean, as our season opens, his season is ending in the Yankees have not done well? That's right. We had a bad year. We had a bad year. Oh, yeah, you your Yankees are

Bill Fugazi 22:42
I'm a Yankee all my life. I've been going to the stadium with my Father, Lord, have mercy on him since I was six or seven years old. So

Robert Lipsyte 22:49
well, your Yankee too. Do you say we know I don't. How do you fit the end of the season? Well, yeah, it's fine. You're glad that the Yankees are losing aren't you?

Jim Bouton 22:58
Well, I think No, no, I wouldn't say I'm glad I just I don't feel that it's a tragedy that the Yankees aren't winning, because they think that if the fans are honest about it, they'll realize that the Yankees have won more than their share of pennants metric. They've won 20 World Champions, I figured it out 20 World Championships and in approximately 80 years that baseball has been played. And if you feel if you if you realize that every team in the major leagues is entitled to win one World Championship, there should be one every 26 years. So by those rather by that calculation, the Yankees are not due to win a World Championship until the year 2474. Because cubs gotta win a whole bunch that you know, I mean, the Minnesota boy. So

Robert Lipsyte 23:39
Bob has a philosophy of balance of nature.

Prof Bob Gurland 23:42
I think that one thing is true. I think that the fans in the main do expect at times the teams to lose. And I think you know that they don't really necessarily hold George accountable for the fact that the team is losing. What they don't like is really his style. And his his his focus on Celebrity was interesting. I did a quick experiment in one of my classes this morning, I asked my class if there are any students in the class who had no interest in sport and baseball whatsoever. 20 of them raise their hand, all 20 knew who Steinbrenner was and all 20 of them could pick them out of a police lineup. I asked them who was the owner of the New York Mets equally loved and equally adored. Not a single one of those 20 knew the owner of the Mets and I think that's rather interesting, because it indicates somehow how Steinbrenner has placed himself. Visa v vie fan in New York

Interview concludes. Host Lipsyte asks audience for feedback on what they think of "The Boss".

Host Lipsyte announces the show and introduces himself. Show Ends.

Funding for the show by announcer and overlay the Eleventh Hour graphic.