If you read The New York Times Page One obituary for George Steinbrenner online this morning, you likely did not see the big goof in the opening paragraph.

The Web version had a great opening line that declared the departed Yankees owner was someone who “placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion.”

But in print, right there on the front page, the lead had a clear copy editing goof. See it below in bold:

"George Steinbrenner, who bought a declining Yankees team in 1973, promised to stay out of its daily affairs and then, in an often tumultuous reign, placed his formidable stamp on 7 World Series championship teams, 11 pennant winners and a sporting world powerhouse valued at perhaps $1.6 billion, died Tuesday morning died Tuesday morning at a hospital in Tampa, Fla., where he lived. He was 80."

The web version includes no mention of the print mistake, but hopefully a correction will be done Thursday and an apology to the Steinbrenner family for screwing up what may be his most-read obituary.

It is a simple copy editing error that likely would have been caught back when the Times, and most newspapers, had more eyes on each story.

If this kind of mistake gets in, it makes you wonder how many others involving things like facts make it through.