Chris McMonigle mentioned the sometimes forgotten history of George Steinbrenner’s tenure as Yankees owner after he watched the Peacock documentary ‘The Bronx Zoo 90,’ which chronicled the tumultuous 1990 season in the Bronx that represented one of the darkest times in Yankee history.
Daryl in the Bronx called in almost immediately after, and made it clear that he did not care for C-Mac expressing any kind of criticism towards the late Steinbrenner’s time as owner.
“What you talked about should be addressed,” Daryl said. “I honestly think you should apologize. Steinbrenner brought championships. The kids have brought nothing...for you to talk about him in a negative way, maybe you were just too young and ignorant.
“There’s a lot of fans that are gonna say, what you said was blasphemy. What you said tonight should be addressed. It might be considered blasphemy.”
C-Mac was quick to defend his take, maintaining that nothing he said was meant to be blasphemous, simply informative that The Boss’ run was not as consistently successful as many believe it to have been.
“I said he was great and I love him, but I said we remember it as if there weren’t any issues,” C-Mac said. “We talk about this gap in between championships. You know what it’s tied with? George Steinbrenner’s gap between ’78 and ’96. That’s a fact. And in the early 90s, they were putrid...and that dynasty wasn’t built until George was forced out of the way...he wanted to trade Bernie Williams and Mariano Ri8vera. He wanted to sign another shortstop and not have Derek Jeter play in 1996.”
Steinbrenner’s banishment from baseball did indeed open the door for Gene “Stick” Michael and company to rebuild the Yankees from the ground up in the early 90s, leading to the last true dynasty in baseball up to this point. Sure, Steinbrenner was obsessed with winning and was never afraid to put whatever resources he had into the team, but sometimes, that was to a fault, as high-priced free agents didn’t pan out throughout the 1980s, the team cratered in the early 90s, and didn’t turn themselves around until George was forced out by the commissioner.
C-Mac says fans should remember that when killing Hal Steinbrenner and the current Yankee brass, and remember that George’s suspension was met with raucous applause when fans found out about it during a game in the Bronx.
“I watched footage of the Yankee fan celebrate George being banished,” C-Mac said. “It happened.”