NEW YORK (AP) — Now into their 50s, the Boone brothers are still meeting at the ballpark.
For the first time in two decades, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone squared off against his older sibling on a big league field Tuesday night when the Texas Rangers came to town for the opener of a three-game series between the past two American League champions.
Bret Boone was hired May 5 as a hitting coach for the Rangers, his first job on a major league staff. Aaron Boone is in his eighth season as the Yankees' skipper.
“It hasn’t happened for us yet in this kind of capacity. So, certainly good to see him," Aaron Boone said a few hours before his team's 5-2 victory. “I’m sure I’ll peek over there at some point during the game and see what his act looks like.”
Prior to the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, the Boone brothers brought the lineup cards to home plate and posed for photos with the umpires.
They had dinner together Monday night, a day off for each team, and both were excited about having their children at the game — helping to make this week a true family affair.
“He actually paid the bill last night. So that’s new,” Bret Boone, 56, said with a grin in the Texas dugout. “It was nice. We don’t get to see each other much. Last time I saw Aaron was Christmas and he came to San Diego. I might pop in Anaheim. So it was good. It’s good catching up and, you know, there’s a little more baseball talk, but it’s more to see my nieces and nephews.”
Both All-Star infielders, the Boone brothers were teammates with the Cincinnati Reds from 1997-98 and played 24 games against each other in the majors.
The last one was April 24, 2005, when Aaron Boone homered for Cleveland in a 9-1 loss at Seattle. Bret Boone went 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly.
“He’s very competitive. I’m very competitive when it comes to this. I don’t treat it differently,” Bret Boone said. “Once all the fun stuff is kind of over, it’s kind of business.”
Aaron Boone, 52, recalled boxing against his older brother in the house when they were young kids growing up in a baseball family.
“He was a great big brother, especially when we were little. Four years older than me, he (dragged) me with him a lot,” the New York manager said. "So, I always say a lot of my athletic development, I give him a lot of credit because when I was 4, 5, 6, 8 years old, I was playing and had to keep up with 12-year-olds. And it was either keep up or get stomped. So, I’m pretty appreciative of that. He always kind of took me with him.”
Bret Boone said he's “very proud” of Aaron's accomplishments, but acknowledged it was "weird” at first to see him managing the Yankees.
“It was always Bret’s little brother and then all of a sudden he got the Yankee job and people were saying, `You’re Aaron’s brother.' I said, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute,'” Bret Boone explained.
But now, just like Aaron, he knows what it's like to pull for your players from a big league bench.
“I’ve lived and died every emotion in this game, but now all of a sudden putting this uniform on in a different capacity than I’ve ever been, I kind of have a little bit of insight on what staffs go through," Bret Boone said.
"The onus, it’s a little heavier when you’re the manager — but I know what he’s going through. You live and die with these guys. That’s the one thing that kind of caught me off guard is, I knew I’d be invested, I knew I’d care, but I didn’t realize how emotionally I’d get invested with these guys on a daily basis.”
Their grandfather Ray and father Bob were both All-Star players in the majors, making the Boones the first family to produce three generations of big leaguers. Bob Boone also managed the Reds and Kansas City Royals.
With that lineage in mind, Aaron Boone thinks his older brother is well suited for his new job.
“He's in such a good place in his life,” the younger Boone said. "I think he’ll be a really steadying force for those guys and I think he has a lot to offer them. Look, he’s got tremendous baseball knowledge. He’s been in the game forever. He’s passionate about it. But I think he’ll have a really good presence with those guys.”
___
Freelance writer Larry Fleisher contributed to this report.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Mike Fitzpatrick, The Associated Press
