First of all, owners should not be in the Hall of Fame at all. I don't see how spending money and hiring a bunch of executives fits with the spirit of the Hall. There are other owners in the Hall (Barney Dreyfuss and Walter O'Malley are recent inductees), but I don't agree with the approach.
Second, he wasn't a particularly good owner. Sure, the late 90s and early 00s have been good to the Yankees, but for the first 20 years, Steinbrenner was basically a nightmare. He created more dissent on his teams than anyone in the game, sending the Yankees into the doldrums for awhile. Being famous is not the same thing as being good.
Even in interviews with the Yankees players you couldn't get more than a generic statement.
I guess Buck was just feeling sentimental because Steinbrenner's health is obviously horrible. He looked awful.
