New York Times Literary Treat of the Week....

Madden, Bill. Steinbrenner: The Last Lion of Baseball.

It startles not only baseball fans but people of every interest to see how quickly George Steinbrenner has faded from the limelight. The only regular “view” these days is the back-of-the-head depiction of the New York Yankees owner in reruns of “Seinfeld.” This is a far cry from the rich man’s son who bought the Yanks from CBS in 1972 for only $10 million at a time when free agency demanded a huge checkbook. Though at the outset Steinbrenner said that the family shipping business would limit his involvement with baseball, he eventually micromanaged his team covering everything from players’ hairdos to the cleanliness of Yankee Stadium. Madden, a three-decade baseball writer for the Daily News, is quick to point out that the two most successful periods for the Yankees (1977-78, 1996-2000) in the Steinbrenner era were after his two suspensions from the game. Madden also details the five times the troubled Billy Martin was both hired and fired by “The Boss.”