Love them or hate them, the Yankees remain the most glorified team in American sports history. Led by the Babe, the Iron Horse, the Yankee Clipper and the Mick, they dominated baseball for more than four decades before the legendary franchise sagged under the ownership of CBS. Then in 1973, a 42-year-old shipbuilder named George Steinbrenner, a man now as iconic to his team as the pinstripes on its uniforms, headed a group that purchased the Yankees, and turned that investment into a billion-dollar business. Since 1923, the ‘House that Ruth Built’ has been the epicenter of the baseball world, and its team the biggest sports attraction in the Big Apple, inspiring generations of fans to maintain loyalties through good times and bad. But with a deteriorating facility and an eye towards 21st century style revenues, Steinbrenner was inspired to build an impressive new stadium. While the Yankees kept their Bronx address at 161st and River Avenue, the new ballpark marked the end of one grand era with the hope of launching another. Two time Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple will look at the New York Yankees as defined by George Steinbrenner’s enduring legacy, and will tell a story of how a $10-million dollar investment changed the face of not only a storied franchise, but an entire sport.
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