The longtime New York Yankees owner was involved in a number of off-the-field incidents, but none more controversial than his $40,000 payoff to confessed gambler Howie Spira for ''dirt'' on Dave Winfield. Steinbrenner was angry after Winfield filed a lawsuit claiming that a $300,000 donation from the Yankees to The Winfield Organization, which was guaranteed in the outfielder's contract, was never paid.  On July 30, 1990, Commissioner Fay Vincent banned Steinbrenner for life, though he was reinstated three years later. The incident was Steinbrenner's second forced absence from baseball. In 1970, Bowie Kuhn suspended him for two years following his conviction for making illegal political campaign contributions to President Richard Nixon's re-election committee.