By Wayne Dawkins
 
George Steinbrenner [1930-2010] insisted on winning, so much so he changed the racial complexion of the New York Yankees and erased their reputation as the country club white boys.
 
A half century ago, the management of the once perennial champions behaved like white supremacists reluctantly losing grip of their privilege. The Yankees were among the last Major League Baseball teams to desegregate and when they did, the team practiced tokenism. There were few black players on the field and they were to be seen, but not heard.
 
As a black child from Brooklyn in the 1960s, I did not have permission from my parents or grandparents to cheer for the Yanks. The Dodgers and the Giants were the teams with the righteous brothers: Jackie [Robinson], Willie [Mays], the stoic Roy Campenella and others.
 
However, those teams split Brooklyn and Harlem in the late 1950s for California. Children like me were permitted to cheer for the 1962 infant of the Dodgers and Giants: The Metropolitans.
 
Those Mets were amusingly awful for their first seven years, but it was OK for me – and my pals – to root for those lovable losers.
 
About that same time the Yankees sucked too. After the 1964 World Series, where they were overpowered by the speed of St. Louis Cardinals’ black stars Curt Flood, Lou Brock and Bob Gibson, the Yankees had a string of losing seasons and stayed overwhelmingly white, and inept.
 
Then “The Boss” arrived in 1973, the year the precocious Mets played in their second World Series.
Mickey Rivers, speedy and black, soon arrived, about the same time as Bobby Murcer, a Mickey Mantle-ish slugger.
 
Something was changing in the Bronx.
 
Then in 1977, Steinbrenner signed Reggie Jackson, the egoistical and articulate slugger from the gaudy Oakland A’s. Reggie wasn’t docile and he was quite uppity to Yankee fans and New York sportswriters.
 
But Reggie Martinez Jackson could talk smack and smack baseballs. He became “Mr. October,” the man who hit three home runs in a single World Series game against the Dodgers and delivered other championship season thrills.
 
By that time Jackson was surrounded by other talented black and Latino stars. More would follow.
 
Years passed and it got to a point that the Yankees were no longer racially suspect. Steinbrenner was in tune with the motto of another obnoxious sports team owner, Al Davis of the Oakland Raiders, who famously said, “Just win baby.”
 
Results mattered to these owners more than racial purity.
 
In the 21st century, “Mr. Yankee” is unquestionably Derek Jeter, a man of mixed heritage who seems racially neutral and nonthreatening to fans. The team’s big bopper is Alex Rodriquez, and the next star about to blow up in Robinson Cano.
 
I remain a loyal Mets fan, yet I marvel at what Steinbrenner accomplished. He demanded excellence – often boorishly and brutally – and he made it clear that the results could come from an ensemble of white, black, brown or other.
 
Postscript: Steinbrenner's vision that excellence comes in many colors upset Rush Limbaugh, who Tuesday called Steinbrenner "That cracker [who] made a lot of African-American millionaires."
Reliably smug, Rush said he tweaked left-leaning critics by being "clever." Oh really?
Pathetic actually. I'm embarassed for the tired fool.