Day 1 for Yanks’ new manager evokes strikingly familiar Torre
TAMPA — He hit one of the most memorable homers in major league history against the Red Sox one October day.
That is basically how Bucky Dent ascended to Yankees manager. Aaron Boone too.
Let’s face it: If Dent pops out against Mike Torrez in the seventh inning on Oct. 2, 1978, or Boone singles to lead off the 11th inning against Tim Wakefield on Oct. 16, 2003, are they even considered by Yankees decisionmakers?
Because of the Boone comparison, Dent has been on my mind recently, remembering just how ill prepared he was to manage — too jittery, lacking communication skills and without the kind of baseball IQ to overcome such things. He hit a homer and got thrust way above his pay grade.
Boone received the interview to replace Joe Girardi because of his homer, aided by a baseball-legacy last name and the public stage of ESPN employ. None of that, by the way, does much to qualify a person to manage. For Boone, it got him in front of Brian Cashman and company, who decided Boone won the interview process quite decidedly.
Now, he is on the clock — does he actually have the skills to manage, or did he just hit a big homer, against the right opponent, at the ideal moment?
“Obviously, not having done this before, I understand a lot of the questions,” Boone said. “A lot of people can’t wait to see my style or how I’m going to go about things or how I’ll command the team.”
For now — before the first clubhouse crisis, prior to game speed warping strategy decisions — Boone and his bosses can be content that he won the pitcher-and-catcher report date if, for no other reason, than by the end of his 36-minute state-of-himself, stateof-the-Yankees press conference, the comparison evoked was to Joe Torre, not Dent.
Torre was the only previous Yankees manager mentioned by Boone. He cited how comfortable Torre made him feel in integrating him into a new environment upon his July 2003 arrival. Boone mentioned wanting to also cap-
ture that ability to be a soothing presence to players.
But Boone made a more vital connection to Torre. Remember Torre followed a successful manager (Buck Showalter) who had just gone to the playoffs. The general groundswell was against change when the roster was championship capable.
I also felt that was a mistake — though began to change my mind on Day 1 of spring training 1996. Rather than run from expectations, Torre doubled down. He lauded the best roster he had ever had, said he should win. Torre showed instantly how comfortable he was in this forum and his own skin. He owned the franchise’s history and in that way began to make the Yankees his Yankees.
Boone, too, follows a successful manager (Girardi) who just got the Yankees to the playoffs. He was hired amid a chorus wondering why a championship-capable roster would be handed to an untested manager. The Yankees might have been the $200 million little engine that could last year, but that success plus Giancarlo Stanton has the organization on more familiar title-or-bust terrain, to which Boone noted: “It beats the alternative, right? It really does.”
This is Yankees reality; no sense pretending it does not exist. And Boone didn’t. Arms folded in front of him, demeanor hardly changing much beyond a knowing smile to a few questions. He was comfortable as Aaron Boone, told his team to embrace the expectations. He played the part of Yankees manager well, not pretending to know what he didn’t.
He acknowledged the benefits of coming at a time when the front office is working so well, particularly at all levels of player procurement. Boone also is fortunate the Yankees retained CC Sabathia, Brett Gardner and David Roberts onto have a championship-tested, team-oriented leader in every phase of the game.
Conversely, Rob Thomson left for the Phillies and took his West Point-level precision of running spring training with him. Can new coach Phil Nevin cohesively orchestrate the myriad drills run over several fields with 60-plus players? Should a novice manager have a former manager beside him, rather than a novice bench coach in Josh Bard?
Boone won Day 1. Now, we watch and wait to see how a new manager handles his first dent.