Hank Steinbrenner, Yankees co-owner, dies at age 63

Hank Steinbrenner, a general partner and co-chairperson of the Yankees who was the eldest of late owner George Steinbrenner’s four children and most resembled their outspoken father in public, died Tuesday morning, the club announced.

Hank Steinbrenner, 63, died at his home in Clearwater, Florida, after a long battle with an undisclosed illness, the team said.

“Hank was a genuine and gentle spirit who treasured the deep relationships he formed with those closest to him,” the Steinbrenner family said in a statement released early Tuesday afternoon. “He was introduced to the Yankees organization at a very young age, and his love for sports and competition continued to burn brightly throughout his life. Hank could be direct and outspoken, but in the very same conversation show great tenderness and light-heartedness. More than anything, he set an example for all of us in how comfortably he lived enjoying his personal passions and pursuits. We are profoundly saddened to have lost him and will carry his memory with us always.”

With George Steinbrenner in declining health, Hank Steinbrenner ran the Yankees briefly before Hal Steinbrenner, the youngest of the Steinbrenner children and by far the more reserved of the brothers, assumed the reins as Major League Baseball’s designated control person in November 2008 (George Steinbrenner died July 13, 2010, at the age of 80).  

Sisters Jessica and Jennifer also are involved in the club’s operation.

From that point in 2008, Hank gradually began receding into the background in terms of the day-to-day operations of the team, though Hal continued to solicit his older brother’s thoughts on all aspects of the organization.Up until the last couple of years, Hank had been a consistent presence in his office at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the organization’s headquarters.  

“Two heads are always better than one,” Hal Steinbrenner said of the overall involvement of his family in running the team during a late February interview at Steinbrenner Field. “We’re a close family. And this organization, we know what it meant to my dad and mom and we know what it means to us, so it’s good to have everybody involved.”

SEE PHOTOSHank Steinbrenner photos

Hank Steinbrenner  was in his 13th year as general partner and 11th as co-chairperson.

He was born April 2, 1957, and raised in his birthplace of Cleveland before attending Culver Military Academy in Indiana (where his father went to high school, as did Hal) and then Central Methodist College in Missouri.

Though he mostly grew up around baseball — Hank was 15 when his father bought the Yankees from CBS in January 1973 — his first love may well have been horses.

“He spent many decades passionately involved in the breeding, raising and racing of horses, serving as a Vice President and Director of Bay Farms Corporation since 1985 and as a longtime member of the board of the Ocala Breeders Sales Company,” the Yankees said in their statement.

There were plenty of other interests.

“Over the course of his career, he held additional roles as chairman of Minch Transit Company and vice president of Mid-Florida Hotels Corporation,” the statement continued. “In 2000, he coordinated a multiyear partnership with Gwynn Racing to field a Gwynn/Steinbrenner top fuel Yankees dragster on the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Tour.”

Hank Steinbrenner, who also played guitar and piano, joined with his son, George Michael Steinbrenner IV, to re-enter competitive racing in 2016, contributing to form Steinbrenner Racing.

He  also was intricately involved in youth amateur baseball, founding “Hank's Yanks.”

According to the Yankees, Hank is survived by  daughters Jacqueline and Julia, sons George Michael IV and John, a granddaughter, Anabel, and his siblings, Jennifer, Jessica and Hal, and their families.