While Steinbrenner has gone to his final resting place, even the devout members of Red Sox nation should be able to acknowledge that the Boss' next stop should be Cooperstown.
Steinbrenner was announced as one of the candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame's 2011 class and there is no doubt that he belongs there when it's all said and done.
While those in Kansas City, Oakland and other small market cities may disagree, Steinbrenner changed the game of baseball for the better.
Red Sox fans never really liked the guy, but if it weren't for somebody like Steinbrenner, the Sox may not have reached the heights they have in the last decade.
Think about it. Steinbrenner established the big-market dominance that teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have been able to prosper from in the past decade or two. Steinbrenner was doing it first — for quite some time actually — but his will and drive to improve his team led to the Red Sox increasing their will and drive to do the same thing.
The Yankees returned to glory underneath Steinbrenner. Before he took over, the Yankees were a far cry from the team that dominated the sport in the early-20th century. The glory days of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle had long passed the Bombers by.
Steinbrenner rejuvenated the most successful sports franchise ever on his way to multiple World Series rings. And for better or for worse, he changed the game of baseball. He helped change the way business was done in baseball and as a result, there is a better product on the field. That alone should be enough to warrant him a plaque in Cooperstown.
But for Red Sox fans looking for justification in the fact that Steinbrenner deserves a spot amongst baseball's immortals, remember that the Red Sox as we know them today, may not be here if it weren't for George Steinbrenner's desire to be the best.
Competition truly does breed excellence, and no one provided more competition for the Sox than Steinbrenner.
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