The “Core Four” members of the New York Yankees admitted in a recent chat that George Steinbrenner ruled the team by fear back in the 1990s.
Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, and Andy Pettitte chatted for the Players’ Tribune recently, and Steinbrenner’s tactic of ruling by intimidation came up.
“We had fun, but that didn’t mean we weren’t always on our toes,” Jeter said. “We were all scared to death of the Boss. Because Mr. Steinbrenner would get rid of you. No hesitation. If you weren’t up to his standard, you could be traded. We all knew that.
“Everyone was scared to death of him,” he added. “And if he intimidated you, you were done.”
“Forget about the majors, when you were in the minor leagues, Steinbrenner was even more scary,” Rivera said. “He’d walk around the locker room and just…look at people. He’d just look at us, make sure that we were up to code.”
“The discipline was intense,” Posada agreed. “You could only wear one chain. You had to be clean-shaven. No beards. No hair touching your uniform. Everything was measured and had to be perfect. He made it clear that Yankees look a certain way, and we were so young that it stuck with us. It kind of brainwashed us in the minor leagues.”
Jeter thought the discipline helped them become better, however, and said that you could get on Steinbrenner’s good side if you worked hard and didn’t back down.
“If you showed you were intimidated by the Boss, you could forget about it,” Jeter said. “If you couldn’t even handle him, how were you going to handle playing in New York? But if you acted like a professional and you weren’t scared, you earned his respect.”
Steinbrenner was an extraordinarily intense, competitive, and driven guy, both to opponents and to his own players. To hear these players, though, you have to admit that whatever he did worked pretty well, particularly in the late ’90s.
