My George Steinbrenner

In 1988 I came up with an idea for a summer issue of the magazine to photograph people born on the 4th of July, and the editor said that should include me as well. "The Boss" was one of my choices. It took forever to get approval, and in fact he only said "yes" after the deadline had passed. The minute he gave the OK, I drove to Yankee Stadium and met him before a game. I had prepared various props for my subjects. George got a red, white and blue baseball bat which I painstakingly painted. I met him at his office, and he said "when we go out to my box for the photograph, you will have to work quickly." I asked why, and he said because if some of the fans saw him in his box, they might start booing him! So we went to his box, I set up my light, handed him the bat, and shot the portraits in under 5 minutes. I was thrilled that I finally got the portrait. He said to me, "If you like, you are welcome to stay and watch the game from my box." Now some of you know, I could care less about baseball, but there was NO way I was not going to watch the NY Yankees play a baseball game from George Steinbrenner's box at Yankee Stadium. That was a thrill!