George had me in a headlock

On today's show I related a personal George Steinbrenner story. The year was 1997, and Steinbrenner had a horse running in the Preakness named Concerto.

I was doing a saturday radio show on AM1300 back then with Tom Matte, and we were broadcasting from the Infield at Pimlico. I look up and I see Steinbrenner. I nudged Matte and said "look who I see". Matte jumped up, waved his arms and got Steinbrenner's attention, and waved him over. I had no idea, but he and Matte were friends. Cleveland boys, both of them, and those bloodlines run deep.

Steinbrenner proceeded to sit down with us, and did 30-45 minutes of the show with us. He was kind, warm, funny and full of great stories. Exactly the opposite of what  I expected. I thought he'd be some kind of a pompous jerk, but soon realized just how wrong I was. 

He was wearing that iconic white turtleneck all the time in those days, so I asked him if Concerto's jockey would be wearing one too. He looked at me, smiled, and put me in a laughing, happy headlock. We  finished the interview, shook hands and parted friends.

You're going to read and hear many rememberances in the next couple of days, and I just wanted to share my own. I learned a great lesson that day. Never judge someone before knowing them. Steinbrenner taught me that, you know.