Now they have — in George: The Poor Little Rich Boy Who Built The Yankee Empire, the laugh-out-loud biography by St. Petersburg author Peter Golenbock.

Golenbock’s prior written collaborations with Yankee greats Billy Martin, Graig Nettles and Sparky Lyle provide him unique historical background on Steinbrenner and the 36-year-long Yankee soap opera. In fact, Lyle has been quoted as saying that his intense dislike for Steinbrenner was the “inspiration” for his collaboration with Golenbock on the 1979 bestselling book The Bronx Zoo.

Without George Steinbrenner there would be no A-Rod, no Jeter, and Vinny LeCavalier would be working in the off-season painting houses to make ends meet. But was he a brilliant tactician who carefully plotted his ascent in pro sports?  Hardly. But he was a good showman, and it is this quality — combined with an inability to envision failure and a penchant for suspending rules and reality — that Golenbock says was the real reason he was able to build the most valuable sports franchise in the world, becoming a cultural icon in the process (not to mention a running joke on Seinfeld).

From Golenbock's book: Steinbrenner vs. Costanza in an episode of "Seinfeld."

Steinbrenner’s middle name is Michael, but Machiavelli might have been more appropriate. Among the revelations in the book: he once sold stock owned by his wife without her knowledge to keep his minor league basketball team afloat. At the time Joan Steinbrenner had begun divorce proceedings against George. The divorce filing was later rescinded and they remain married today.

That’s not to say that Steinbrenner doesn’t have a good heart when it comes to those less fortunate. Stories abound in the last chapter of the book about the softer side of George, whether he’s paying for a poor kid’s college tuition, helping the families of fallen police officers in Tampa and NYC, or rebuilding a ball field in a poor neighborhood.

But then again, he may be the only convicted (if later pardoned) felon to have a high school named in his honor. Golenbock recounts Steinbrenner’s participation in the Watergate scandal — the only time other than his two suspensions from baseball when the music finally stopped for George and there was no one left to clean up his mess. But even after pleading guilty to two felonies for funneling thousands of dollars to Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President — better known as CREEP — George didn’t serve a day in jail: Reagan pardoned him in 1989. Heck, a guy who jumps the turnstile at Yankee Stadium would receive a harsher punishment.

Some of the funniest stories in the book come from Steinbrenner’s days in Cleveland before he acquired the Yankees. It was no stroke of luck that young George avoided the cold and bullets of Korea and instead wound up running the sports program at an Ohio military base just miles from his family home. According to Golenbock, George’s special treatment was the direct result of a deal his father cut with the Air Force. But George being George almost killed the deal. He complained that the lights on the ball fields were substandard and attempted to get them replaced by the Army, but was told no money was available. So George went ahead and ordered the lights anyway while his base commander was away in Washington, telling the lighting company that he would pay for them if the Army didn’t. When the commander returned from his trip, he was surprised to find the base lit up like Runway 22R at JFK. Of course, Henry Steinbrenner came to his son’s rescue and the Air Force paid for the lights.

Peter Golenbock at Yankee Stadium.

Steinbrenner’s toughest critic in the book is cable executive Leo Hindery, who created the YES network for Steinbrenner. The YES Network, which telecasts Yankee games and programming, is valued at over $2 billion. It ensures that the Yankees will continue to be able to afford high-priced free agents for the foreseeable future. Hindrey lets George have it with both barrels, including telling Golenbock that Steinbrenner’s daughters are the brains of the family (but George will never allow women to run the team), and that the minority owners, who own 40 percent of the Yankees, haven’t made a nickel in 30 years due to Steinbrenner’s profligate spending on players and his family.

Many interesting personal tidbits come to light in this book.  Among them:
• Steinbrenner was raised a Christian Scientist.
• He made up a story that he played pro football for the NY Giants in an effort to land a college football coaching job after graduating from Williams.
• He didn’t really understand the rules of baseball when he first became the Yankee owner, as evidenced by his tirade against a scorekeeper who failed to award the Yankees a run on a play where the third out was made.
• He stormed the field during a Hillsborough Community College baseball game at the Yankees complex, threatening to stop the game because the Yankee groundskeeper had the HCC team play on the wrong field. (Yes, a greenskeeper was fired.)
• He announced that Yankees manager Dick Howser, who had won 103 games the prior season, was stepping down to take advantage of a lucrative real estate opportunity in Florida. Howser’s lucrative real estate opportunity turned out to be George paying off his home mortgage in exchange for his resignation.
• And Golenbock puts into print what most people have been whispering for the past five years — that Steinbrenner is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
This book confirms two things.
There is only one George Steinbrenner. And the world would be a lot less entertaining without him.

Scott Farrell hosts The Farrell Files on the 10Connects Morning News. He’s also a contributor to Wayne Garcia’s Creative Loafing blog, The Political Whore.

By Manny Leto
PoHo contributor

It’s 8 a.m in Ybor City, and there’s not a construction worker in sight at Hillsborough Community College’s new Student Services building on Palm Avenue. Pillars for the fourth floor reach skyward, while exposed rebar twists in the wind.

For weeks now, a group of influential Ybor City property owners, the Barrio Latino Commission, the city’s Office of Historic Preservation and the Cuban Club has battled HCC over the design of it’s new Student Services Building which by anyone’s standing is clearly out of place along the brick streets of Old Ybor.

There’s a reason why the architecture of HCC’s Ybor Campus, including the design for the new Student Services building, has never really jibed with what the Barrio Latino Commission considers the “historic patterns” of Tampa’s National Historic Landmark District: It doesn’t have to.

At least, that’s what college officials say.

A bit of history might help. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the City of Tampa’s Urban Renewal Agency embarked on an ambitious plan to “revitalize” several inner-city neighborhoods. Using the power of eminent domain, the agency demolished more than 1,000 homes and businesses in Ybor City. Central to Federal Urban Renewal policy, both locally and nationally, was the belief that cities could improve deteriorating urban centers by clearing away old structures and building new ones. With grant funding from HUD, Tampa’s Urban Renewal Agency demolished, cleared, and assembled large parcels of land, offering them for sale to private developers.

Between about 1965 and 1974, land acquisition and demolition in Ybor proceeded quickly. Once this initial phase was completed, however, federal funding dried up, the Urban Renewal Agency closed its doors and Ybor City was left with acres and acres of barren lots. Ironically, Urban Renewal only exacerbated the perception that the Latin Quarter was a “slum area.”

Unable to attract private investment, city leaders looked to Hillsborough County for a solution. Already concerned about the lack of private-sector interest, in 1968, then-Mayor Dick Greco proposed an “urban campus” of Hillsborough Community College to be located on what were now acres and acres of empty city-owned parcels. HCC was at the time looking to open a campus in Tampa and was considering Dale Mabry Highway and Plant City. Initial plans for a branch campus called for the acquisition of 33 acres of land in Ybor City. The college would eventually own as many as 53.

Because the land was cheap and abundant, other county agencies followed suit. Today, Hillsborough County is the largest single property owner in Ybor City. HCC alone owns around 40 acres of developed and undeveloped property in the Historic District.

But since the first building was constructed in 1973, HCC has rarely appeared before the Barrio Latino Commission. For new construction, they skip the process entirely.

The reason for HCC’s exemption is difficult to pin down.

One argument, offered by HCC, is that they’re located outside of the National Historic Landmark District and therefore exempt from Barrio review. Not so says Joe Howden, chairman of the Barrio , which has jurisdiction from Columbus Drive to Adamo Drive. Yet another reason, explains the City’s Historic Preservation Manager, Dennis Fernandez, is that state buildings are “self regulating” and therefore aren’t required to pull building permits. Fernandez says that HCC is only required to abide city land use and zoning requirements, not design review. A 1976 Tampa Tribune article seems to back this up. However, the Barrio is empowered in Chapter 27 of Tampa’s zoning codes so, even by this logic, HCC still falls under the Barrio’s umbrella.

Yet another theory is that HCC was exempted from local design review as a concession for agreeing to build a campus in Ybor City back in 1970, an idea the college was reluctant to support.

Whatever the reason for the exemption, once the student services building went beyond 45 feet they triggered a zoning review, which required them to appear before the Barrio, the very group whose scrutiny they have generally avoided.

“When they decided to add the 4th story, they actually violated their own zoning classification,” said Fernandez.

They also raised the ire of key Ybor players. Since at least January the Cuban Club and La Gaceta publisher, Patrick Mantiega, have challenged the school to comply with local standards. Surrounding property owners, Joe Capitano and Alan Kahana – two guys you don’t mess with around these parts – also got involved. Why should they comply when HCC gets a free pass? Why should a homeowner or a small business spend extra money to restore their property when a big player like HCC thumbs its nose?

The last two weeks have seen a sea change in HCC position.

The school has agreed to reduce the height of the Services building from four to three stories (absorbing what is undoubtedly a huge expense that may trigger legal action). In exchange, surrounding property owners have agreed not to challenge HCC’s variance request for additional height, a nominal two feet above what is allowed. The school has also agreed to a variety of aesthetic enhancements outlined by the city’s historic preservation office.

Most significantly, HCC has agreed to enter into an inter-local agreement with the City of Tampa requiring that they seek Barrio approval for all future projects.

In light of the recent fracas, it might be easy to overlook the fact that HCC actually has a good track record of restoring historic buildings in Ybor City. Just a few years ago, they restored the La Benifica Clinic on the corner of 15th Street and Palm Avenue for use as its dance studio and child care facility.

They also restored a 4-story brick building, originally built in 1905 for use as administrative offices.

The question is, why doesn’t HCC employ this model more often? Any casual observer would easily note the glut of empty storefronts throughout the Historic District. A 2002 vision plan commissioned by the city suggested both HCC and Ybor City would benefit by expanding the campus further out into the District. A campus bookstore on 7th Avenue, maybe? The school’s T.V. and radio production classes in a second floor Ybor loft? Heck, call me crazy but, how about a theater class at the Cuban Club or the Centro Asturiano, which boast 300 and 1,200-seat theaters, respectively. Some historic buildings, neglected for years, are looking for saviors. Why not HCC? Filling empty storefronts would not only provide more visibility for the school but it would go a long way towards making Hillsborough Community College a bigger part of the community.

Ultimately, the controversy surrounding the Student Services building could become what educators call a “teachable moment.” HCC should use this moment to teach its students about the value of Historic Preservation, about Ybor City’s place in Florida history, and about the challenges of community development, planning and politics. HCC should comply with the standards the Barrio enforces not because it has to but because, as a learning institution, it should lead by example.