TAMPA, Fla. — One hundred and thirteen days ago, Aaron Boone stood on the precipice and drank in the pain.
The manager of the New York Yankees, his team just vanquished in a World Series-ending heartbreaker, had ventured across Yankee Stadium’s subterranean tunnels to the visiting locker room. Having already addressed his team and the media, Boone wished to congratulate his counterpart, Los Angeles Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts, on a series well fought.
There he settled, a few steps beyond the door frame leading to the Dodgers clubhouse. Down that hallway, revelry reigned, the type of hard-earned party every baseball person dreams of. Understandably, Boone did not wish to enter that space. Doing so would be inappropriate, an unnecessary intrusion.
Someone else was sent to retrieve Roberts as Boone remained outside, still clad in pinstripe pants and a navy hoodie, a blank look of defeat cemented on his face. As he waited, music from the booze-drenched shindig bounced and boomed, rattling the walls. The unmistakable smell of champagne flooded into the open tunnel, filling Boone’s nostrils, lightly stinging his eyes.
The resolute Yankees manager — so close, so far — had no choice but to soak it all in.
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Four months later and a thousand miles away, Boone and the Yankees announced a two-year contract extension that will keep the skipper in the Bronx through at least 2027. Boone’s previous deal was set to expire at the conclusion of the upcoming season. The new pact quiets any buzz around his job status and removes a potential distraction from the ever-busy YankeeLand circus. It is a reward for a successful 2024 season, agonizing as the result might have been, and a show of faith from ownership.
On Thursday, during his daily spring training news conference, Boone was thankful, though far from overtly jubilant, regarding his new contract. He voiced excitement and gratitude about the deal, and he reiterated his desire to lead the Yankees to a World Series win.
Boone is keenly aware of his unique situation, the singular nature of his position and, most importantly, his role within the ecosystem he inhabits. Being the manager of the Yankees comes with supersonic expectations. Anything but a parade is a failure. The attention can be exhausting — the eyeballs, the questions, the cameras, the criticisms, the noise, the all of it all — but it also heightens the experience, raises the stakes. Winning in the…