Bloops: The George Steinbrenner Love Letter That The Yankees Don’t Want You To Read
Posted by Neil Paine on May 16, 2011
Remember Mary Jane Schriner, the woman who dated George Steinbrenner when they were teenagers? We linked to several of her stories last fall:
Bloops: Summers With George Steinbrenner
Bloops: Steinbrenner’s Comeuppance
Bloops: More George Steinbrenner Memories
Schriner wanted to share her letters from Steinbrenner with the world, but apparently the Yankees are going to great lengths to make sure they never see the light of day. (Even though Schriner possesses them, the copyright is owned by the person who wrote them -- or, in this case, his heirs.)
Dashiell Bennett of Business Insider summarizes the frustrating saga of Big Stein's letters here:
The George Steinbrenner Love Letter That The Yankees Don't Want You To Read
Update: According to Bennett, Schriner is willing to sell the letters to a collector, either individually or as a collection.
May 16th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I read the Business Insider story last week and her original story in the NY Times . If the Yankees have the power to block these letters from going to the Baseball Hall of Fame then a collector would own something of great value. If I had the money I would buy them. It's a shame since it appears George would have been seen in a positive light. Do the Yankees really have to control everything.
May 16th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
These letters are almost certainly no longer protected by copyright. Without going into the details of copyright law, if the letters were written before 1964 which they probably were), they are in the public domain unless Steinbrenner registered the copyright and renewed the copyright in the 28th year after publication (which he probably didn't).
May 16th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
"The George Steinbrenner Love Letter That The Yankees Don’t Want You To Read”
... a.k.a. Jorge Posada's contract.
May 16th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
HIYO!
May 17th, 2011 at 5:21 am
goodness........if anything, I believe in love. Love letters...........copyrights??? Lawyers, even?????? Yuck. The man is DEAD, already. Regardless, of what you thought of him before, can we at least let him find some love, NOW?????
May 17th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
No, there's a good reason why theYankees don't want you to read them. Excerpted from one such letter:
"Dear Mary Jane,
"I still think of you often, even while away. Not seeing you gnaws at me, like a Hank Greenberg line drive into the stomach of Joe DiMaggio would gnaw at DiMaggio for weeks to come. But the gnawing is worth it; I can see you, and the Greenberg's double wins the game for Detroit.
[...]
"I especially loved that green dress you wore when I took you to the Indians game the last time I was home. It was fetching, and the shade looked like the outfield wall in Fenway Park, where I saw Ted Williams belt two home runs off some guy from New York. I forget his name; all that matters is that the Splendid Splinter won the game for the Red Sox."
May 18th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
Looks like they are available on eBay. I think they are selling them individually so I will most likely buy one, Steinbrenner Letters.
May 18th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Looks like they are available on eBay. I think they are selling them individually so I will most likely buy one, Steinbrenner Letters. Repost, made a mistake on the link.