The Steinbrenner's have been terrible owners dating back to 1973, and were only saved by a small group of scouts who drafted the core of the 90s dynasty 36 years ago.
Between 1978-1996 the Yankees went 17 years without a championship. In that stretch, George Steinbrenner fired 14 different managers.
He also, as we all know, tried to dig up dirt on his best player Dave Winfield, forcing him to be banned from Baseball.
The year before George was banned, the Yankees won 74 games. 74. It had be 4 years since they touched a 90 win season.
In the time that he was gone, Gene Michael, Bill Livesey, Brian Sabean and yes, later Brian Cashman, drafted, developed, and produced what we now know as the Yankees dynasty.
We also know that George tried to trade Derek Jeter the moment he returned, and Brian Cashman and Willie Randoloph had to practically throw themselves in front of a moving truck in order to stop him.
What most DONT know however, is that George fired Gene Michael, all of his scouts, and all of the architects of the 90s dynasty upon his return, and many within the organization said the dynasty died that day, before it even began. They all say that had George not been such an egomaniac, the Yankees could've gone on to dominate for much, much longer than they did - which is hard to imagine.
Since then, they have won one single championship in the past 25 years. They have not been able to recreate the genius of the architects who created what is now famously known as "The Yankee Way".
Hal has handed the reigns over to Brian Cashman, who back in the 90s - considered leaving the Yankees entirely or a UPS delivery job to hold him over while he went to law school, leaving baseball behind him.
His shouting matches with George, watching George force his way to close deals with players like Gary Sheffield screwing over a potential deal Cashman had in place for Vlad Guerrero, screaming arguments to protect prospects from being traded and so on, left Cashman scarred and allowed him to develop an arrogance in the wake of George's passing. Sustained excellence throughout the regular season has been coupled with a refusal to make trades that hurt but benefit the team in the immediate. That, along with a myriad of other mind bending decisions, has kept the Yankees from reaching the mountain top in this new era of NYY baseball.
At the end of the day, the Yankees won 20 championships before the Steinbrenner's took over.
Comparing eras is always relative - yes, the average fastball was 89 mph and Yogi Berra had side jobs working at Bowling Alleys, but that was the case for the rest of the league, and the Yankees found a way to win more than anyone else.
The Steinbrenner's have owned the team for 53 years. If you combine the title drought from '78-'96 and '09-'26 - that is 34 years combined of them overseeing championship droughts in NY.
Unacceptable.