Clippers alert: Steinbrenner is on his way

"The Boss" of the New York Yankees may soon be "The Doc" at Ohio State University.

OSU's trustees were to vote Feb. 1 on awarding an honorary doctor of business administration degree to George Steinbrenner, controversial owner of the Yankees and big-time Buckeye supporter.

A native of Rocky River in suburban Cleveland, Steinbrenner attended Ohio State before receiving a bachelor's degree from Williams College in 1952.

He went on to earn his fortune in the family business, Cleveland-based American Shipbuilding Co. In 1973, he became principal owner of the Yankees, heading an investor group that bought the team from CBS.

Steinbrenner admitted he knew nothing about baseball when he purchased the team. His critics might argue that nothing has changed over the past 29 years, although it's tough to dispute the Yankees' success in that span. The team has been to the World Series nine times, won six championships and become the most valuable franchise in sports.

Steinbrenner's tenure as Yankees owner has been marked by his penchant for firing managers, berating ball players, ripping umpires and squabbling with the baseball establishment.

In 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner from running the team's day-to-day operations after the Yankees' boss was accused of paying gambler Howard Spira for damaging information on ex-Yankee star Dave Winfield. (The ban was lifted in 1993.)

And Steinbrenner caused a ruckus a couple ofyears back when he threatened to move the Clippers, the Yankees' Triple A farm team, out of Columbus if Franklin County commissioners didn't build the team a replacement for Cooper Stadium. (Ken Schnacke, the Clippers' general manager, told us the issue has since died down.)