The time of the presentation in society and before the always difficult and demanding New York media came Aaron Boone as the new manager of the legendary local team of the Yankees.
Boone was the first to admit immediately that what will be his first experience as a coach or pilot in professional baseball was a unique “challenge”, but very difficult and complicated.
Especially because he arrives without any kind of professional curriculum as a technician that gives at least some credibility to the players that he will direct from the next spring field.
Hence, his first and most important mission will be to convince the players of the Yankees, that the Bronx team managers made a good decision with his election to fill the position of the prestigious and beloved Joe Girardi.
Boone was presented today at Yankee Stadium as Girardi’s successor, who in 10 seasons with the Yankees gave them a World Series title, the last they have achieved in their historic and legendary presence in American League baseball.
The new Yankees driver his only relationship with the sport of baseball, regardless of having been a player, was the sports television commentator since last season, after having retired in 2009.
Boone himself had no problem recognizing that with his background he can not think that before the players his person counts with more respect than having been a professional like them.
“I know how important the respect of the players is to the manager and in my case I have to win it, as all professionals have done,” said Boone. “I hope I can earn that respect soon, and that they can trust me, that they know I’m watching over their best interests, and that they know I know what I’m talking about.”
Phrases made that have been able to convince the Yankees managers, who have given him their full confidence, but for a professional is not enough.
Nor to say that “respect is something that must be earned from the first days of the preseason and during the season.”
What the players want to see is if they are really capable of directing and showing that they can do better work than Girardi did, who went out the back door, when he had done an excellent job in rebuilding a franchise that stopped working based on checkbook and began to trust young values.
Boone’s only merit as a professional was that he became a Yankees legend thanks to his homer in the eleventh game that defined the 2003 American League championship series against the eternal rival of the Boston Red Sox.
“Without a doubt, I have confidence in my abilities,” he said. “The players of the majors know how to differentiate between a frank person and one who is not, and I think they will realize that very soon.”
However, critics of his appointment have already warned that the fact of being a sincere person or not, when doing their job as a professional is in the background and Boone could have more of a problem if the first sports results are not are good.
Boone will wear the number 17 on his uniform, the same he wore as a player of the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians, while he could not get on 19, which was the one he wore when he belonged to the Yankees.
But now that number belongs to the Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who was not asked by Yankees officials if he would be willing to make a change.
Boone was a third baseman in the Major Leagues from 1997 to 2009 and participated in the All-Star Game in 2003, after the Yankees got it from the Reds midway through the season.
A left knee injury at a basketball game between friends in January 2004 cost him being dismissed by the Yankees, who said he had violated a ban on his contract and was replaced by third baseman Alex Rodriguez He arrived pierced by the Texas Rangers.
The Boones are the first family to produce three generations in the Major Leagues. His grandfather, Ray, was a stellar infielder from 1948 to 1960. His father, Bob, went to four All-Star Games in a career that lasted from 1972 to 1990 and led the Kansas City Reds and Royals. His brother, Bret, was a stellar waiter from 1995 to 2005 and played three All-Star Games.
Aaron Boone will also be part of just the third father-son duo to be managers in the majors. George and Dick Sisler and Bob and Joel Skinner are the others.
Five days after losing to the Houston Astros in the seventh game of the American League Championship Series, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman announced that he would not be offered a new contract to the pilot Girardi after 10 seasons.
Without the conquest of the title of the World Series in 2009 and a total record winning 910-710 in regular campaigns was enough. Cashman’s argument to dismiss Girardi was that he worried “the ability to communicate and understand with the players”.
Boone becomes the seventeenth of 30 riders who work their first season in the majors and just the third without any manager experience at any level, joining Mike Matheny of San Luis , and Craig Counsell, of the Milwaukee Brewers.
But Matheny spent two seasons as a special assistant for player development, including as an instructor of receivers in spring training, and Counsel was a special assistant to the Brewers general manager from the 2012 until 2015.
Boone is the third new driver among the 10 teams that made the playoffs in the campaign, after they did the same Boricua Alex Cora, with the Red Sox and the Hispanic Dave Martinez, signed by the Washington Nationals.
