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Lesson #5: Never Lose Sight of Your Fans

Article Overview: Reflecting on his tremendous success of the decades, Steinbrenner says, “It's an incredible achievement, particularly when I remember that when I bought the Yankees, we had trouble drawing 1 million to the stadium. We have the greatest fans in the world.”

Lesson #5: Never Lose Sight of Your Fans

Reflecting on his tremendous success of the decades, Steinbrenner says, “It's an incredible achievement, particularly when I remember that when I bought the Yankees, we had trouble drawing 1 million to the stadium. We have the greatest fans in the world.”

Despite all outward appearances, Steinbrenner is one of most customer-centric businessmen in the industry. More than many other sports franchise owners, Steinbrenner goes out of his way to please his fans and to give them what they want. “As I've always said, the way New Yorkers back us we have to produce for them.”

There are numerous ways in which Steinbrenner shows his fans that he is listening to them. First of all, Steinbrenner thinks his fans have the right to watch and support a championship team. That is why he is willing to spend whatever he needs to get the best players and win championships.

More than the money, however, Steinbrenner also tries to cultivate a culture of proud New Yorkers. To that end, he is constantly re-hiring ex-Yankees and bringing them back onto the team. Steinbrenner knows that many ex-Yankees are still closely connected to the team and have a loyal New York fan base. That is why, even when the likes of Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were having bad seasons, Steinbrenner was willing to hire them back.

Beyond the team roster, Steinbrenner also focuses on the experience fans have during the actual games they are paying to see. He was the first and only baseball owner to implement an Old Timers Day for the fans. Aside from his own personal sense of history, Steinbrenner knew that fans have a love for the past Yankee teams that cannot be touched. That is just one example of how Steinbrenner tries to give his fans the experience that they want.

There are also individual stories of generosity towards fans that make even the most ardent Steinbrenner critics bend a little. For instance, when he found out that a local librarian had attended 3000 games, he was so moved he decided to give her his personal viewing box at the Stadium, as well as lunch at the private club and personal greetings from all of Alex Rodriguez, Joe Torre, and Derek Jeter.

Or, take for example the case of the 12 year old boy from Arkansas who decided to forgo the chance to see his favourite baseball team to instead donate his $1,000 savings to help keep his New York school open. When Steinbrenner found out about the selfless act, he offered the young boy a personal tour of Yankee Stadium, time on the field during batting practice, and also replaced his $1,000.

As much as Steinbrenner loved to fuss over his players, he knew that it was really his fans that were keeping them all in the game. That is why no act was too small to show his fans that he was thinking of them.

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Article Tags: 1 million, baseball owner, businessmen, darryl strawberry, decades, doc gooden, drawing 1, fan base, franchise owners, generosity, librarian, new yorkers, old timers day, other sports, personal sense, sense of history, sports franchise, team roster, yankee, yankees



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