Baseball Literature in Memory of George Steinbrenner

Today is a sad day for baseball. Even as a hardcore Sox fan, it wasn't pleasant news to read that this morning, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner died of a heart attack in Tampa, FL at the age of 80.

Steinbrenner is easily one of the most recognizable team owners in sports history, partially due to his 11 pennants and 7 World Series championships he helped the Yankees earn in the 37 years he owned the team, and (I'd like to think) partially due to his eccentric role as George Costanza's boss on Seinfeld (voiced by Larry David).

In honor of "The Boss" (not Springsteen, Steinbrenner) I went on a hunt this morning for some great baseball/Yankees literature and found that the best of the best come from Elysian Fields Quarterly, an all-baseball literary review. Back in 2006, Ralph Nader contributed to the review with an open letter to Steinbrenner, criticizing his decision to tear down the original Yankee Stadium (built in 1923) and move the team to the new, slightly smaller stadium across the street. Of course it all ended up working out anyway: the Yanks won the World Series in the first season at the new ballpark. Check out Elysian Fields Review online here, where you can find subscription information and read through some of the back issues.