By Eric Katz

If there is any owner who deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame it has to be George Steinbrenner.

I am very surprised that he has only appeared on the Hall of Fame ballot once which was in 2011. He only received eight votes which equals 50 percent of the votes. But he changed the way owners run their teams. Steinbrenner was a very involved owner. No one had been like that up to that point. Most owners before George bought teams because of the money they could make and as a hobby.

Understandably he did change managers 20 times in his first 23 seasons. Also he is a convicted felon for illegal contributions to Richard Nixon’s presidential campaign.

Yes, he was banned from day-to-day management of the Yankees for three years for attempting to “dig dirt” on Dave Winfield by hiring Howard Spira.

Those things are not minor and shouldn’t be overlooked but he still deserves to be elected. He really did change the game and made it what it is today.

It was George who went out during free agency and spent lots of money on super stars. He was also the first owner to sell cable TV right for his team to be broadcasted.

He also did lots of charitable work outside of baseball. Owners today have just gotten to the point of spending big money on free agents. George was at this point many years ago when what he did was unheard of at that time.

After CBS sold the Yankees to George and a group of investors in 1973 they were a terrible team. George brought the Yankees out of the cellar and back to the power house that they are today.

He has helped the Yankees win seven World Series, eleven pennants, and making the playoffs numerous times. Without George buying the team I doubt the Yankees would ever return to prominence. You can either love him or hate him he not only made the Yankees great and he changed baseball.