recapping our top stories this hour legendary new york yankees owner george steinbrenner is dead at the age of 80. he suffered a massive heart attack today and was rushed to a tampa hospital. funeral arrangements will be private and there will be a public service that will be announced later. now day 85 of the gulf oil disaster. bp is planning to begin testing on a new containment cap on the ruptured well today. the cap could contain all of the oil, some of it or maybe none. the testing could last up to two days or possibly longer. new york s landmark preservation commission is discussing plans to build a mosque near ground zero.
welcome back. we re just about a minute shy from the top of the hour, and if you are joining us this hour, we are following breaking news from the sports world. just in my ear right now, cnn has just confirmed that legendary yankees owner george steinbrenner has died after suffering a massive heart attack. he was rushed to a hospital in tampa, florida. there you see the live picture courtesy of bay news 9, our affiliate on the right of your screen. steinbrenner, called the boss by many, was just a legend in the sports world. he had bought the yankees in 1973 for $10 million, the longest serving owner in league history during that time period. the yankees won seven world searry, 11 pennants. he was 80 years old, and interestingly enough had just
news 9 in tampa at the hospital where steinbrenner was reportedly taken to. he is said to be in extremely critical condition. steinbrenner turned 80 years old on july 4th. he is the legendary owner of the yankees, owned the team since 1973. we hear that legendary yankees owner george steinbrenner has suffered a massive heart attack and is in extremely critical condition. it is a big day for business news. earlier we touched on two topics, problems with the new iphone, iphone 4, and wall street reform. we want to get some perspective from the manager editor of money magazine. we want to start with financial overhaul because it looks liked senate does have the votes it needs to give final passage of this bill later this week.
baseball twice, for illegal contributions made to richard nixon s 1972 campaign fund and in 1990 for paying a gambler to collect information on dave winfield. under steinbrenner, the payroll reached record numbers, the highest in major league baseball history. in the 1970s, no other owner had as much success with the free agent player market as he did. the strategy of acquiring big names didn t always produce a title. overall with steinbrenner in the owner s box, he won six world championships. the yankees are champions of baseball! reporter: steinbrenner enjoyed the limelight, starring in commercials often spoofing himself. you are the starting short stop, how can you spend two nights dances, two nights eating out and three nights carousing with your friends? reporter: and lampooned on
he was called the boss for a reason. he had quite a hard-charging style. some might say he was a teddy bear off the field, but quite a style. you heard from him if you didn t perform, didn t you? yeah. the interesting think lots of interesting things about george steinbrenner. he bought the yankees for $10 million in 1973. but the year before he bought the yankees, the seattle pilots which later became the milwaukee brewers were bought for more than the yankees sole forea year later. so when steinbrenner bought the yankees, they now are this incredibly powerful, multi billion dollar entity and hugely successful brand but at the moment he bought them, it actually took some guts. new york was considered a dying city. the yankees were considered a meaningful really in brand name only, and he turned the organization around within a couple of years and made them