Remembering George Steinbrenner

‘I’m obsessed with winning and everything that goes with it — discipline, pride, achievement. Isn’t that the essence of this country? Isn’t that what New York is all about and the Yankees always should be?’

— George Steinbrenner, who died Tuesday at 80 of a heart attack

‘The thing with the boss, he’s an old football coach.... He sort of looked at the baseball season like we played 12 games and we had to win every single day.’

—Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter

‘All he was was a winner. He wanted to give the fans a winner, and that’s exactly what he did.’

—Former Dodgers manager Tom Lasorda

‘He expected a lot. He demanded a lot; he raised, I believe, the level of not only the Yankees organization and what they want to do as far as winning and winning championships, but I feel like he’s raised the bar around baseball for other teams to try to keep up and to compete with what he was trying to put on this field every year.’

—Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte

‘Within the first two minutes he said the words, “We have to win a World Championship” about three or four times, so really quickly I got a good idea of what his front-and-center thoughts were from Day One.’

—Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez about his first meeting with Steinbrenner

‘I remember a man driven to succeed.’

—Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly, a former Yankees player and coach

‘I met the real George Steinbrenner on only one occasion, when he actually came and played himself on an episode of “Seinfeld.” … The fact that he allowed himself and his beloved team to be satirized on our show is an indication to me of his true character. He was certainly a legend and I am pleased to have been associated with him, even if only in fiction.’

—actor Jason Alexander, whose “Seinfeld” TV character worked for the Yankees

‘Who else could be a memorable character on a television show without actually appearing on the show?… That’s how huge a force of personality he was.’

—comedian Jerry Seinfeld

‘He has left an indelible legacy on the Yankees, on baseball, and on our city, and he leaves us in the only way that would be appropriate: as a reigning world champion.’

— Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York

‘You have to admire a man in sports so dedicated to winning. That is what professional sports is about, and he never deviated.’

—Lakers owner Jerry Buss