Heart attack claims Yankees owner

George Steinbrenner, the man who took the New York Yankees into the billion-dollar sports kingdom, died July 13 at his home in Tampa, Fla. at the age of 80.

Steinbrenner had just celebrated his 80th birthday on July 4.

In the 38 years that Steinbrenner owned the Yankees, they won seven World Series Championships, 11 American League pennants, 16 AL East titles and appeared in the postseason 19 times.

Steinbrenner employed 15 different managers during his time with the Yankees.

Steinbrenner did things differently – he changed the franchise by starting his own television network and ballpark food company. Today, Forbes values the Yankees at $1.6 billion.

The Yankees trail only Manchester United ($1.8 billion) and the Dallas Cowboys ($1.65 billion) in professional, worldwide sports franchise total value.