Aaron Boone was struggling.
Ten games into his first postseason with the Yankees, Boone was hitting .161 without a home run, and he began Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS on the bench.
But Boone, whom the Yankees had acquired less than three months earlier in a pre-deadline trade with the Cincinnati Reds, never made excuses.
“He was trying so hard when he came over, and I understand that, especially for a club in a pennant race, and you’re coming over from another ball club and you feel the need to contribute,” Joe Torre, the Yankees’ manager at the time, recalled to the Daily News.
“But as far as his leadership ability, the thing I look at is that he didn’t blame anybody. The character is what I check first. The ability was there. I wasn’t concerned about that, especially for what we needed at the time. He was there. He never blamed anybody, and I think that comes from being the third generation of major-league players.
Boone, the son of former MLB catcher Bob Boone, went on to hit one of the most iconic home runs in MLB history in that Game 7 against the Boston Red Sox, crushing an 11th-inning walk-off against Tim Wakefield to send the Yankees to the World Series.
That was Boone’s only season as a player with the Yankees, but 21 years later, the former third baseman is back in the Fall Classic, this time as the team’s manager. The leadership qualities that stood out to Torre more than two decades ago continue to serve Boone well.
“The pressure is all about getting [to the World Series], and I think he’ll be fine,” Torre said Friday, hours before Game 1 between the Yankees and Dodgers in Los Angeles.
“The players embrace him. I heard a number of them, when they clinched, talking about being happy for Booney and all that. That’s important. That’s important that your players believe in you and trust you.”
Boone seeks to become the 10th Yankees manager to win a World Series, a fraternity that includes Torre, who did so four times from 1996-2000.
Now in his seventh year as the Yankees’ manager, Boone remains in touch with Torre, whom he said was “such a stabilizing factor” for him after the 2003 trade.
“Getting to play for him and to see how he handled being the skipper of this team helped put me at ease a little bit in what can be a whirlwind and a stressful environment,” Boone, 51, said this week. “You’re gone at the trade deadline and, boom, into a new team and a new situation, so to see him handle all of that was impressive and hopefully something I’ve taken with me.”
Torre, 84, has lent his support during Boone’s managerial tenure, from offering advice early on about how to deal with the New York media to sending a congratulatory text message after the Yankees advanced past the Guardians in the ALCS last week.
In March, Boone invited Torre to the Yankees’ spring training in Tampa, Fla., which proved to be a memorable experience for both parties.
“[Boone] kept talking about putting the uniform on, and I kept resisting, basically because I just didn’t want to get in the way and I didn’t want to be a distraction,” Torre said.
“He said to me, ‘Well, you can come sit in my office. You can dress in my office.’ I sat in with coaches, because there was Willie Randolph, who was one of my coaches, and [Ron] Guidry, who was one of my coaches. They started putting on the uniform and they sort of coaxed me into it. I said, ‘OK, I’ll put it on.’ I gave in. I was an easy mark.”
Boone later had Torre deliver the lineup card before the Yankees’ March 18 exhibition against the Phillies at George M. Steinbrenner Field, then compelled him to make a pitching change, much to the delight of the fans in attendance.
“Him being there with us for a few days was so impactful for our players and our coaches and certainly me,” Boone said. “But I think it meant a lot to him, too.”
The Brooklyn-born Torre managed the Yankees from 1996-2007, then held the same role with the Dodgers from 2008-10 before becoming the executive vice president for baseball operations for the MLB commissioner’s office under Bud Selig.
Torre now serves as a special assistant to commissioner Rob Manfred and, coincidentally, was at Dodgers camp when Boone called to invite him to the Yankees’ spring training.
“I visit occasionally and I text him occasionally, just to wish him luck here and there,” Torre said of Boone. “I want him to do well.”
