Photo by Ken Stabile
As founder and chairman of Steiner Sports Marketing, Inc., Brandon Steiner oversees the largest sports memorabilia company in America—its inventory of often-autographed collectibles includes well over 10,000 items. Here, the affable mogul takes us for a lap around his favorite field—his office in New Rochelle.
A wall of mostly autographed pictures is “not the highlight of the office,” Steiner says.
A photo of George Steinbrenner with Billy Martin. “I always have a piece of Steinbrenner in my office, mainly because he was the guy who gave me the idea that sports could be a business. This was back in 1979, when no one was thinking about sports in those terms.”
A copy of Steiner’s book, The Business Playbook: Leadership Lessons From the World of Sports, and of one of his favorite books, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, by Harvey Mackay, sit on his desk. “Mackay is one of my mentors.”
Steiner keeps detailed charts of all the key stadiums, “so I know where everyone is sitting at all the games and events. I probably go to more than a hundred events per year, so it’s important for me to know exactly where I’m sitting and where everyone else is sitting.”
A few baseballs, one autographed by Bill Clinton and the other by Hillary Clinton. “I’m a big fan of theirs.”
“My assistant, Carolyn, sits here as I’m firing off e-mails—as many as a couple hundred. Not a lot of executives share their office with their assistant, but I find it’s a better way to work.”
“I have these special balls made for the holidays with red and green stitching. They have my signature on them instead of the commissioner’s, but they’re still official balls. I get players to autograph them.”
Steiner keeps a four-foot section of a foul pole from the old Yankee Stadium.
Steiner is a big Syracuse fan, so he says “my coffee table and end table are both made from pieces of the court from when Syracuse won the national championship.” (Note the net on the underside of the coffee table.)
An office chair Steiner had made to look exactly like the seats from the original Yankee Stadium.
“Yankee hall-of-famer Phil Rizzuto is one of the first players I represented,” Steiner says. This is a drawing Bill Gallo had done when Phil had passed away. It keeps me in perspective, reminding me that Phil was one of my first clients when I was just starting out.”
A pair of Derek Jeter’s batting gloves, some of his wristbands, and a pair of his cleats. “I’m a huge Derek Jeter fan. I always keep some of his stuff around, because it reminds me of how cool he is. Sometimes when you’re with people for a long time, you forget.”
“These are my favorite pictorial sports books, which have led me to a lot of different ideas for products to create. I like to keep them close at hand. I have quite a bit more.”
This is Greg Paulus’s helmet that he used playing his last year at Syracuse. “I’m obviously a huge fan of his.”
“People have sent me figurines of my favorite Syracuse players from over the years—including this one of Andy Rautins. He’s with the Knicks now, so that’s pretty cool.”
“These bats were all used in actual games. My favorite one is Derek Jeter’s.”
