George Steinbrenner turned 80 years old on Sunday, July 4, 2010. And now it’s time to put the NY Yankees owner in his place. That place is the Baseball Hall of Fame. In his 37 years as owner of the Yankees, Steinnbrenner has compiled an enemy list that would make Bin Laden envious. This is a major reason why Steinbrenner will likely never be immortalized in Cooperstown, and that’s wrong. The Hall should not be a popularity contest. Instead, it should be about the people who dominated or influenced their sport during their era, and under Steinbrenner, the Yankees have done just that. The on the field accomplishments are obvious, with 11 pennants and 7 World Series titles in 37 years. But, off the field, Steinbrenner has had an even greater influence on the game. Steinnbrener understood that the player salary explosion in major league baseball could be turned into a positive for the game. He found ways to dramatically increase club revenue and his blueprint has made baseball far more popular today. Before Steinbrenner (which we’ll call B.S.), clubs relied mainly on ticket sales to fuel revenue. Steinbrenner showed his fellow owners how to maximize dollars by selling TV rights. The Yankees unheard of revenue and unimaginable player payroll, led to revenue sharing, which puts over 40 million dollars a year into the pockets of small market teams. The 12-person veterans committee has the power to put one of the most powerful men in baseball history into the Hall, however, the last two times the committee met to discuss which baseball executives should be considered for induction, Steinbrenner’s name wasn’t even on the ballot. The old Steinbrenner would have found a way to fire the committee, but the current Steinbrenner is a weak old man, who’s in poor health. Steinbrenner once said the only thing more important to him than winning is breathing. I’m hoping ‘’The Boss’’ has enough breaths remaining to see the day when the veterans committee gets it right and gives him a hall pass.