reporter: the nba not so fortunate. during this holiday season for fans players returning to the court. there were milestones in 2011, of course, as well. yankees captain derek jeter joined the 3,000 hits club. mariano rivero became the all-time saves leader. he stands alone. reporter: jim thome reached 601. the sports world lost some of its most beloved figures. some were lost tragically. indycar is very sad to announce that dan weldon passed away. reporter: there were defining moments. tim thomas and the bruins the won the stanley cup. packers brought the lombardi trophy back to title town. preseason hype didn t help the miami heat as they fell to the dallas mavericks in the nba final. after reaching the playoffs,
george steinbrenner, yankees captain derek jeter has called george steinbrenner the most famous american in all of sports. talk about what steinbrenner meant to the game of baseball, not just new york. i didn t grow up in new york, but you know with george steinbrenner and when he was going to put a team on that field, they were going to be the best that money can buy. what has he meant to baseball? he has meant everything to baseball, he is by far the most famous owner in baseball today. he was impervious, he was imperial, he compared himself more to patton that eisenhower, he was an unforgettable person. probably the most famous nonathlete new york has ever seen. did you find not just the owners in baseball, but other sports trying to copy his model. very hard to because what he did more than anybody else, at least certainly in baseball would be he would spend to the point of even if he made a