Aaron Boone’s signature trait — his persistent ability to nearly always present the same even-keeled demeanor whether the Yankees are winning or losing — is also what makes him enigmatic.
“The season is a great life lesson,” Boone said last week, the afternoon after his team had been shut out by division rivals on two consecutive nights. “It’s 162 (games). It’s a lot like life — dealing with highs and lows.”
It’s difficult to envision a baseball season with a greater disparity between the highs and lows that the Yankees have experienced this year.
Boone spent the first few months of the season managing a team of world beaters. Comparisons to the 1998 Yankees or 2001 Seattle Mariners, who won 116 games, were rampant. At the height of the Yankees’ campaign, when they sat 15 1/2 games up in the American League East after beating the Red Sox in Boston, Boone was cautious to revel in the standings.
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“I mean, it’s been a great stretch of baseball, no question about it,” Boone said on July 8. “But we’ve got a long way to go.”
Since that victory in Boston, the Yankees have gone 13-25. After their 4-2 win against the Blue Jays at home on Sunday afternoon, the team sits with a 74-48 record and an eight game lead in the AL East.
Boone’s approach as a manager is impossible to separate from his experiences as a ballplayer. Players feel they can relate to his experiences, and he leans on those to counsel his players through difficult times.
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In recent weeks, he has had to expound on the most difficult moments of his career to try to help some of his players find their way out of their own.
Despite a comfortable division lead, the pressure is on the Yankees. After their red-hot start, a plummet out of first place, or even a postseason spot, would be a historic failure.
This is Boone’s opportunity to prove his managerial mettle. This is the make-or-break moment of his career.
