With the passing of George Steinbrenner this morning, the YES Network will air a live two-hour special at 6 pm ET this evening commemorating The Boss.
YES's Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay will co-host George Steinbrenner Remembered from the regional sports network's studios with reporter/analyst Jack Curry. The network's Bob Lorenz will contribute from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, site of tonight's MLB All-Star Game.
George Steinbrenner Remembered is scheduled to include interviews from Angel Stadium with Yankees manager Joe Girardi, and the Yankees players preparing for the Mid-Summer Classic, plus other dignitaries. The special will also consist of interviews with and recollections from many former Yankees greats and other luminaries.
Following his death this morning, YES aired an encore presentation of the Steinbrenner Yankeeography, which premiered on YES in September 2009. YES went live from its studios at approximately 1 p.m. (ET) on July 13 with special programming hosted by Kay and Curry. Among the notables interviewed live: Goose Gossage, Graig Nettles, Paul O'Neill, David Cone, Don Mattingly, Willie Randolph, Gene Michael, David Wells and Ken Singleton. The special program also contained archived interview clips of Steinbrenner and others.
YES will show encore presentations of George Steinbrenner Remembered from 8 pm ET to roughly 12 am ET, after which it will re-air his Yankeeography and rotate the Steinbrenner Yankeeography and the special on July 14.
Singleton, a YES analyst and ex-Major Leaguer, remembered the former owner with these words: "George Steinbrenner was a legend, a once-in-a-lifetime figure. He had tremendous vision, and the sports landscape - not just the baseball landscape - will never be the same. He had an outsized personality. While I was playing with the Orioles, and later as a Yankees analyst, I witnessed first-hand the passion for winning he exhibited, and the way New Yorkers appreciated the resources he put into producing a championship team. We'll never see another owner like him. I will always appreciate the opportunity Mr. Steinbrenner gave me to broadcast Yankee games. I will miss him dearly."
Fellow YES analyst and former Yankees catcher John Flaherty said the Big Apple and the sport community lost "a great figure this morning. There is nothing like putting on the pinstripes and playing for the Yankees, and that is a tribute to the way George Steinbrenner resurrected the franchise in the 1970s. He treated the Yankees players extremely well. He was always very generous. He gave you all the resources you needed to win. All he wanted to do was win and to bring world championships to the people of New York, and he was extremely successful in doing that. I will always treasure my time with the Yankees. My condolences go out to the Steinbrenner family."
In the view of Al Leiter, another YES analyst who also pitched for the Bronx Bombers, Steinbrenner was the best owner: "He always provided everything you needed to win a championship. His passion, intensity and his attention to detail were legendary, and he expected nothing but the best from you. No one outworked him, and no one wanted to win more than he. He had a unique aura, a unique presence about him. When he walked into a room, his presence was felt immediately. I thoroughly enjoyed my times with the Yankees. It was, and is, a sports franchise like no other. Mr. Steinbrenner will be terribly missed. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Steinbrenner family."
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