A native of Cincinnati who attended DePaul University, Steinecke spent almost 40 years in uniform, but only four games in Major League Baseball (with the 1931 Pittsburgh Pirates).
He threw and batted right-handed, stood 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) (173 cm) tall and weighed 175 pounds (79 kg) as an active player.
After batting .361 for the Binghamton Triplets of the Class B New York–Pennsylvania League — and being elected the loop's all-star catcher for 1931 — Steinecke received his Pittsburgh trial.
Steinecke's long minor-league managerial career began in 1937 in the Class B Sally League, and from 1946 to 1964 he skippered clubs in the lower minors.
(As manager of the Class D McCook Braves of the Nebraska State League, he was a figure in former bonus-baby pitcher Pat Jordan's memoir, A False Spring.)