As you would expect, the death of George Steinbrenner yesterday inspired an outpouring of good will and praise from the baseball world and beyond. (Bud Selig actually called him “a giant of the game.”) But this was George Steinbrenner, for crying out loud, at one point the most disliked man in the city (and maybe the country). Some people were able to resist the siren song of fond eulogies and, on the day of his death, hammered the guy one last time. Thus: The Six Worst Things Anyone Said About George Steinbrenner on the Day He Died.
6. “He may have been a son of a bitch, but he was one colossal son of a bitch.” —Charlie Pierce, Boston.com (quoting George Reedy on Lyndon Johnson)
5. “A despot in a blue blazer and white turtleneck who thought he could win championships for the greatest city in the world by dominating the back pages of the tabloids with bluster and invective.” —Jamie Malanowski, True/Slant
4. “If you worked for Steinbrenner … as any Yankees employee of that era would confirm, you were an almost daily victim of his impatient bluster and bombast. He fired managers and public-relations directors and anybody who didn’t get his lunch order correct.” —Dave Anderson, New York Times
3. “He carried himself and carried on like the greatest of self-assured and self-indulgent players without ever suiting up for a single major or minor-league game.” —Harvey Araton, New York Times
2. “Rot in hell you duplicitous, conniving, lying Nixon-era fossil.” —Kelly Dwyer, Yahoo! Sports
1. “I do not forgive him for all the terrible things he did to me. I’m very relieved that man has to face the most powerful test there is for what he has done. He has to face God. I wouldn’t want to be George right now.” —Howard Spira, New York Post
We’re sure we’re missing some. Got any more?