While it may be painful for Yankee fans (but fun for Yankee haters) Olney gives great insight into the dynasty, and the people that made it. His many years as a Yankee beat writer enables him to gives deep insight into Steinbrenner's money usage, Paul O'neil's passion, Jeter's consistency, Clemens' brashness, and Torre's professionalism. Olney's basic thesis is that when Steinbrenner stopped just throwing money at the team, but did so thoughtfully, getting the right players with the right drive, he was able to build the dynasty. After losing to the Dimondbacks, Steinbrenner went back to his old ways and spent money with abandon leading to a decade long drought of championships that only recently ended despite invariably having the highest payroll in baseball.
There were three traits that seem to regularly be part of the players in the dynasty which Olney describes: passion, work ethic, and goal driven. While these three traits manifested themselves in different ways with different players, everyone had passion for the game, a drive to always get better, and was in it for the team and not for their wallet. It was these traits and others that enabled the Yankees, as a team, to win a string of championships. When these virtues were gone, specifically the third one, that excellence was gone. While this is true for baseball, it is certainly true of just about everything else. Think about the best teachers, Rabbis, and doctors you've encountered. These certainly apply to them as much if not more than those Yankees. In his beautifully crafted tale of that fateful night Olney, not only gives us great insight to what makes a good team, but also what makes someone elite at anything.
