Latest / Foul Territory / Yankees Manager Aaron Boone joins Karl Ravech’s Dirt From The Dugout

Transcript

Yankees Manager Aaron Boone joins Karl Ravech’s Dirt From The Dugout · Foul Territory

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, and welcome to the latest edition of Dirt
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: from the Dugout. Alongside my partner, Justin Musil, I'm Carl Ravitch.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: There it is right there, Dirt from the Dugout. Let
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: me show everybody. Oh, there they are. Wow, they got
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: a whole t-shirt now for themselves. And every week we
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: come on, we get excited about the guests that we
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: have on. We had Jesse Cole from the Bananas last week. Justin,
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: you know, we've had so many superstars on. Here we
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: are again, another week and another level of excitement relative
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: to the guests we're about to bring on. It is
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: tremendous for us. Yeah, man.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, every time we get to talk to these guys,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: they're so busy, but they have so much to give
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: back and so much to share. So it's always awesome
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: to chat with them and chop it up a little bit.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: But I'm just excited about that T-shirt. I mean, your
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: head is really big on there, Ravi. So it looks nice, man.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah. One thing people have never said about me, and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I don't mean in maybe an ego situation, but no,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: my head is small. I mean, I'm a size 7 hat,
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: a size 7 shoe. I mean, everything is small. Well, whatever.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: All right. So here's just a little background on me
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and Aaron Boone. And Justin, you have a story you
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: can tell a little bit later on. But I basically
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: was at ESPN from 93 until this past summer. So
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: my entire career there covered Aaron Boone's playing career from
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: 97 to 09. I was on baseball tonight from 95
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: until the mid 2005, six, 10 area, and then kind
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: of transitioned to some play by play stuff. So I
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: saw him every day as a player or every night
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: covering the, the Reds and the Indians and the Marlins
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: and the Yankees, whatever, whatever team he was on, we
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: covered him. And then of course, lucky for me, he
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: became a teammate at ESPN. And that was, that was
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: as enjoyable a time as I've ever had. And, Of course,
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Frazier is part of foul territory. And, you know, the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: personalities of these people, when you get them off the
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: field and out of a clubhouse, is phenomenal. And thankfully,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Aaron's become a very good friend of mine. We talk
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: way more about things other than baseball, and I'm grateful
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: for that. So with all that as a backdrop, let's
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: bring him on now, the manager of the New York Yankees,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: friend of the program, experienced with both me, And Justin. That,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: of course, is Aaron Boone. Booney, welcome to the program.
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: So delighted to see you. Do I have a big head, Booney?
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: No.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: You and I both. I'm a step also.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a seven and a quarter too.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: You got those little hands, those little baby hands.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, thank you very much. I do. I held
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: these bad boys up next to Sandy Koufax, and it
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: was embarrassing. He looked like Andre the Giant. I mean,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: it was really bad. Yeah, brutal. Well, thanks very much
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: for doing this. We appreciate it. I know this is
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: like the worst time possible, but again, it speaks to
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: who you are as a person to be willing to
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: spend just 45 minutes with Justin and I Really talking
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: less about what you're doing currently, but in the context
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: of what you're doing, how you can help parents and players.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: And let's just start. You grew up in a unique situation.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, grandfather and great grandfather and dad and everybody
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: was involved with baseball. I know you've gotten the question.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Did you have another choice as far as what you
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: were going to do because you were surrounded by it?
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I didn't want another choice. So I think naively when
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: I was younger, I just, what are you going to
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: do when you grow up? I'm going to play baseball.
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: But you realize along the way how things kind of
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: have to break your way and go your way. And
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: it's not as simple as that. There's a lot of
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: great players that I played with, especially being in Southern
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: California in Pony League and high school and then college
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: and pro ball. that all along the way, you know,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: at different times were better players than me. But, you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: it's another thing to be able to get to and
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: sustain and have a big league career. And that can
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: be a little bit unpredictable sometimes. So I was a
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: little naive, but no question that that was my dream.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I played basketball and football all through high school. you know,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: I was probably kind of more of a late bloomer
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: just physically. And so I was kind of, I was
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: kind of all through high school, kind of equal in
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: the three sports, but in my brain kind of knew, like,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: if I was going to play major league sports, it
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: was going to be baseball. And, you know, fortunately I
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: kept climbing the ladder and getting better as I went.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: While other guys, you know, fell off the ladder a
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: little bit that I always looked like, man, that guy's
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: really good. Right, right, exactly.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Booney, appreciate you taking the time, man. I know
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: you're really busy and have a lot going on, so
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: we appreciate you hopping on here. I want to ask
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: you about that because obviously you come from this historic
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: sort of family, right, with your grandfather, your dad, baseball guys,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: big leaguers. What was the expectation like? Because we talk
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: a lot on here about handling pressure, handling expectation. What
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: was that like for you as you came through you know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: middle school into high school, and you have sort of
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: these expectations of what, maybe what other people want you
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: to do, but also what your goals are. What was
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: that like handling all that? And what's your advice to
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: younger players that maybe have a lot of expectations on them?
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So, you know, I was fortunate to have two,
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: you know, what ends up being really good role models
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: in my life, in my grandfather and my dad. So,
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Baseball was the family business, is the family business, and
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: was always a topic of conversation and always something we
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: talked about and obsessed over and loved. And, you know,
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: the the generations of my grandfather and my dad and
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: then my brothers and I, you know, like so we
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: were talking baseball all the time. You know, it's what
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: we did. You know, we're talking sports all the time.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: But I would say. I was so fortunate and blessed
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: to have a dad and a grandpa that were super supportive,
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: super helpful in my career, but always knew it was ours.
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: It was our career. It was our journey. It was
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: our path. So, you know, my dad played in the
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: big leagues from the time I was born till my
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: senior year in high school. And always, when he could,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: was at my games, whether it was my basketball games,
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: football games. baseball games when they could be. My grandpa
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: scouted really till the day he died after his playing career.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: So he ended up scouting for, you know, I don't know, 30,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: 40 years for the Boston Red Sox. So he was
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: always on the move scouting. But they were really great.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: Like my dad would come and whenever he could, whenever
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: he could squeeze it in, which felt like a lot.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: and but he wasn't meddling he didn't you know he
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: wasn't loud you know he was off to the side
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: this is yours there was no expectation now we practiced
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: like especially as I got older we would go work
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: out together when he was still playing like we would
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: go hit together and you know so I don't want
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: like there was instruction there and help and along the
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: way but it wasn't You know, there was a healthy
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: boundary of like, this is your journey, this is your track,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: and I'm here to support it, but not, you know,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: to get in the middle of it either.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: You know, it sounds like, Booney, it sounds like you've
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: witnessed the other side of that. You know, whether it's
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: as a dad, you go to Little League fields, you've
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: been around youth baseball, you've seen the other side of that.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: What would your... your experience tell you to suggest to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the parents, the coaches about that balance between being overly critical,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: being overly helicopter-ish in literally everything the kid is doing
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: versus giving the kid, you know, freedom to be who
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: he is or she is as they grow up. And
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: maybe there's an age where that kind of changes and
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: you probably experienced that with your own dad, but what
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: would your advice be?
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, as much as you can, be mindful
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: of it. Because the reality is there are a ton
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: of parents that are, it is, my kid's going to
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: play in the big leagues or my kid's going to
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: this college or whatever. And he's going to have this coaching. And,
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: you know, it can be too much. And I would
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: just ask parents to check themselves on that. Love your kid.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Support your kid. You know, allow them to chase their
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: dreams in a healthy way. But at the end of
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: the day, they're the ones that have to chase the dream.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: They're the ones that have to like pour into it
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: and sell out and love it to do it. You're
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: not going to, you know, you opening doors or, or,
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: you know, trying to push them in a certain direction,
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: I think can help for a time, but eventually, you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: you might be, you might steal something. you might steal
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: that passion they have for it. You might steal that
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: drive they ultimately have for it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Can you observe that in a kid? Can you see,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: have you seen when somebody, when some, you know, boy
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: or girl has sort of that enthusiasm sucked right out
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: of them and you're looking at it and you're like,
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Oh no, like I can see this. They're not enjoying this.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Like we got to back off this, this, this kid
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: is really talented and yet we're all over them. And
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: this isn't, this isn't helping.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: No question. And, and I think sometimes, you know, almost
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: parents are aware of it and like, overplay the other way. Like,
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Oh no, I'm just, but, but you can still feel it. It's,
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: it's like a dog can sense your energy, you know,
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: like you, you can, you can say one thing, but
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: your energy and what you're putting off is, is something else.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: So I would just.
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: Encourage parents to look, it's not about not supporting your
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: kid and not trying to, you know, push them in
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: some way. Like it's not about just, Hey, you know,
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: because for us, it wasn't just, I just go out
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: there and play. It was, you're going to go, if
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: you're going to play, you're going to play it to
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: the best of your ability and, and get after it.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: So I don't want to, I don't want to say
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: it's just, Johnny, go have fun. And that's great. But
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, like, and I've had,
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: you know, I had this conversation with one of my
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: kids at some point, like I went to a practice
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: of theirs and, and, I just felt like they kind
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: of went through the motions or whatever. And on the
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: way home, I just calmly said to them, I said, look,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: you don't have to play this. But what I watched
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: wasn't good enough. I don't care how you do. I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: don't care if you fail or succeed, whatever. But if
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: you're going to go do that and go commit to
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: that practice for a couple hours, get after it. I
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: want you to have fun with your teammates and all that.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: But like the moping around or just going through the motions,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: that's not it either. So, but at the same time,
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: then it's me stepping away.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: That's so good, man. So Aaron, you know, obviously the
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: landscape has changed a lot at the youth level, right?
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Youth and high school level. You know, what would be
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: some of the things that you would like to see
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: changed or revert back to in some ways? But what
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: are some of the things that you feel like we've
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: gotten off track with this. Obviously, you're a big leaguer,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: you're a manager in the big leagues. You've seen the
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: transition from what it used to be in your day
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: and maybe my day after that and then how it
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: is now. What are some of the changes that you'd
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: like to see at the youth level?
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: Oh, I don't know. Honestly, I can't say I know
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: enough to say this should change. I do think, I
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: think there, I do value kids playing other sports, especially
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: at a young age. And I think, I think that
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: not only is great because look, your kid's not going
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: to play major league sports. Like, so, and you're certainly
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: not going to be the reason if they do.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Well said.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So I think the importance at a young age
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: of doing different athletic things, I think serves you well,
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: not only in just it's fun, it's a change of season.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: Like that's one of the things I loved about playing
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: three sports all the way through high school was, you know,
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: sometimes they'd have winter ball in baseball as I started
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: getting into high school. And I was like, they wanted me,
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: especially in Southern California, wanting me to go play any
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: scout games and stuff. And it's just like, It felt
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: like the wrong time of year that I was supposed to.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: So I do those sometimes reluctantly. I'm like, but I
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: have my other sports and stuff now. So I like
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: kids if they have another sport they're passionate about to do.
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: Because I think in the long term, it really serves
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: them well. Like Cody Bellinger is a great example. He
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: was an outstanding soccer player. Same with George Lombard Jr.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: They're both outstanding soccer players. And you see that. in
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: the way they play the game and how they play
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: and how they move. And I think it benefits them
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: on the baseball field athletically, first of all, but also
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: I think it's an injury thing too. I think it
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: helps you have the ability to prevent injuries because when
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: you're not, not only as a young age, if you're
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: playing one sport too long, that can be, you know,
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: not the greatest thing, but when you're playing a lot
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: of different sports, And now all of a sudden you're
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: playing a sport that requires different movement, different muscles, um,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: that sets you up to kind of ultimately protect yourself
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: in a way, in a subtle way, as you get,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: if you do play in the big leagues, for example, um,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: I think those are valuable things, um, in helping your career.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: And when I watched like Cody Bellinger or George Lombard jr. Move,
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: it's like, man, you can see the soccer player and
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: just how they're feeding.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. That's a recurring theme on
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: this program, too. It's really interesting, Justin and Booney. We
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: haven't had a lot of people come on and say, yes,
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you should play one sport. We haven't had anybody. And
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: we've kind of had a pretty good rainbow of of
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: different voices, players, managers, coaches, college. They all seem to
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: lean into the multiple sports. And again, I think a
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: caveat at some point that changes and you've got to
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: focus on one. but that's a, that's been a very
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: much a recurring theme. So we appreciate that. Just a reminder, everybody,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: this is the parent dugout. You're watching dirt from the dugout.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: The parent dugout is your one-stop shop for parents of players.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: It is your number one resource for all baseball parents,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: softball parents as well. And, um, Yeah, you get the
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: questions that the experts have, and you can ask them directly.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: And with that, we'll go to the first question, which
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: comes from Dom here. So, Booney, Dom asks, is there
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: one baseball skill that parents and young players, like, obsess
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: over that you think might be overrated and one that
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: they maybe don't pay enough attention to? And, again, this
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: is at the youth level. Hmm. Yes. Yeah.
• 16:29
  Speaker 3: I used to, you know, so when I was, when
• 16:33
  Speaker 3: my kids were younger, I was, I was coaching flag
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: football all the time. I was right. And I'd go
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: on the baseball side of things. I'd go kind of help. Right.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: I didn't want to be the head guy or, or whatever. So, but,
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: and this is where you see that subtle, like obsession
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: with the parents. They got to have the hitting lessons
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: and it's like, hey, is his elbow in the right place?
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: And like, you know, eight, nine and 10 year olds
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: and stuff. It's like, allow kids to develop their natural
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: move and their natural swing. And as they get older
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: and get better, obviously you start to develop that and
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: perfect it and refine it and all those things. But
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: you got to let a kid move how they move
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: instead of, I'm going to, this is the right swing
• 17:28
  Speaker 3: to have. Obviously, there's staple mechanical things that good hitters do,
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: but that you'll develop in that. But let the kid
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: move how they naturally move and then build off of that.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: And then the importance of playing catch and doing that properly. Like, ultimately,
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: you know, moving your feet. Like, it used to drive
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: me nuts watching, like, young kids, like, when we'd play
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: catch and they'd just kind of be like, you know,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: not focused on like, and when you're eight, nine and 10,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: like you gotta be a little more focused fundamentally because
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: you're a little like a Bambi, you know, you got like,
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: so let's really focus on what our feet do, how
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: we replace our feet when we're playing catch. Let's, when
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: we are playing catch to get warmed up for, for,
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: for the day, like let's not have the ball falling
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: all over the place. That used to drive me nuts.
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: Like let's, let's take pride in this when we're eight,
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: nine and 10, when it's harder, like let's make sure we're,
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: we're fundamentally doing the right thing. And I don't want
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: to see the ball on the ground or chasing. That's
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: just lack of concentration and just kind of going through
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: the motions.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: That's great, man. So I want to ask you, Aaron,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, when you talk about the youth level, we
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: go to the high school level. Um, Baseball IQ is
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: obviously really critical, right? And understanding the game, the different
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: intangibles that a player can bring and understanding, you know,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: where they're at in it, what they're doing, their feel
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: for the game. What are some things that you have
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: seen that really have impressed you with some young guys
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: that have come up recently with just their baseball IQ
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: and their understanding of the game? And what do you
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: think players can do to really grow in that area?
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I think the biggest thing I notice is less
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: guys are overwhelmed. They've been prepared really well when they
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: get to us. Man, it felt like when I was
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: playing or much before that, you had to come up
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: and kind of earn your stride. and find your way
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: I feel like these guys are way more prepared to
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: come in and be successful right away like that's not
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: by any means out of the question not that guys
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: didn't when I was playing come up and were good
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: right away but less so you know felt like there
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: was these guys are prepared much better now, you know,
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: holistically too, like, like they're getting prepared for the media
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: and the mental game and, and the crowd and how
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: to deal with certain things. Whereas, you know, you didn't
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: have all those resources and you just, you were up
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: there and you were kind of in awe initially. I
• 20:31
  Speaker 3: feel like those guys are less in awe. And I
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: feel like just, I know in our situation with the Yankees,
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: like our players are, and our veteran and our star
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: players do a really good job of making it a
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: welcoming place for guys that are just getting there for
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: the first time, more so probably than when I played.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: I feel like that's happened, and that's helped with the
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: transition because they understand how important these guys that are
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: coming up are to us ultimately being successful. So I
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: feel like that's one area that's improved a lot.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: So it strikes me that this distinction of being prepared
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: to play and succeed and all the experiences may have,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: and this has been echoed on our show too, have
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: as much to do with the skill set, meaning your
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: ability to square a ball up, to hit it hard,
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to throw it with spin that maybe you weren't focused
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: on when you were at USC to the degree that
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they are now. However, when it comes to the IQ,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and we've heard this too, the ability to think on
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: the field, the ability to win a game versus how
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: you win a game. We just got to win the game.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Like sometimes it can get ugly and sometimes it doesn't
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: involve hitting the ball 106 miles an hour off the bat.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Have you noticed a distinction there that, oh my goodness,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: skills wise, these dudes are off the charts, but there's
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: some things I wish that maybe we could focus on.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: And if that is the case, how do we focus on,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: them on the X's and O's of winning a game
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: versus just, as you said, getting your hand in the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: right place, et cetera.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's where playing really helps you. That's where,
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: you know, when you're at the pro level, like going
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: and playing a winner ball and where you're playing, you know,
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: to win and learning how to win and learn how
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: to play against different players and things like that. And
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: every player's different. Some players that come up really have
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: that moxie and savvy and understanding of like, oh, you know,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: this is what this situation calls for. Other guys don't.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Other guys are just very raw and very talented. So
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: it's got to be a learned thing. You know, hopefully,
• 22:56
  Speaker 3: hopefully a player's experience, whether that's youth baseball, high school,
• 23:03
  Speaker 3: all those things. Hopefully they're in situations that they are
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: learning those winning intangible things, those within the game type
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: things that some guys have and some guys don't. And
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: some guys do get better and learn it.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So did you ever have, I mean, we all,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: we all have the, the, the athlete that we grew
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: up with whose name you remember because they were just
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: better regardless of that. Was there a coach that you
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: had at any level who would almost have a whistle
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: and And it's baseball. And if the players did something wrong,
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: rather than let it all play out, we're blowing whistles,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: we're stopping, and we're saying, no, no, no, no, no.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: We're not throwing to that base. We're going to throw
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: to this base. And you as a player would be like,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: I've never seen this before, but maybe I'm learning something now.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Have you ever come across somebody who just paused? We
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: got to do this a different way.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Well, my... College coach Mike Gillespie was, gosh, I mean,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: I loved him so much. But he was an intimidating force, too.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: And he could some kind of tear into you, like
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: in a great way, in a clever, pithy, just with
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: an imposing presence way to him. But you knew he
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: loved you, too. So he was that guy that would
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: definitely call you out. on things and stop things right away.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Buddy Bell. So he was, he was the director of
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: the minor leagues when I was a couple of years
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: when I was with the Reds and he used to,
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: he was big on this game called 27 outs. And
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: we would have to play that in the minor leagues where,
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: you know, they're a fungo hitter and you're, hitting fungos
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: to everyone, calling out situations. And if you got to
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: get 27 outs in a row, and if you've done
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: 14 in a row and you mess up back to
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: the beginning and buddy was a seller for that. And, uh,
• 25:12
  Speaker 3: but you know, it prepared you and it, it helped
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: you practice with some pressure on you too, because it
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: felt like you didn't want to go back to the beginning.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: You don't want to mess this up. Like you had to,
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: it was practicing with some pressure. And then one of
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: my youth football coaches, uh, When I first moved to California,
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: so I was about probably 12 years old, Coach Childs,
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: we had a great team, but he was hard-nosed. He'd
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: build you up, but he'd let you have it, too,
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: and he had that whistle. No, we're doing this again.
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: Right. But you remember him, which is, I think, a
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: really important part of it. You remember him for that. Oh, yeah.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: So, Booney, how good were you at your other sports?
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: Was baseball always your best sport, or were you better
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: at other sports at some points in your life?
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: No, I would say I was fairly equal all the
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: way through high school. Now, again, I knew who I was,
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: and baseball was probably going to be my ticket. But
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: when I was a kid, like 8, 9, 10, 11, 12,
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: I was really good at football. I was really fast.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: So I wasn't, I wasn't a hitter or anything like that.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: I didn't like it. But I could outrun everyone. So
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: I'm running back. And then in high school, I was
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: a receiver and basketball. I was always good. But like
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: in both cases, was I good enough to be a
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: USC wide receiver? Probably not. I was good enough to
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: be on the team, but not, And then was I
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: good enough to be a point guard or a two
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: guard at a real Division I college?
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Probably not.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: So I kind of knew, like, I need to keep
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: getting better at baseball.
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: And that worked out really well. All right, we've got
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: a couple more questions here. Thank you very much. We'll
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: get to Ryan's and Maverick's in a moment. I'm back
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: with Aaron Boone, Justin Musil. You're on Dirt from the Dugout.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Here's a question from Ryan. He said, you're managing some
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: of the best players in the world. What do Aaron
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Judge and the truly elite players do that you wish
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: every 12-year-old could see? Good question.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: You got to love the non....
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Glorious parts of the game?
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: Yes. You've got to love the off-season preparation, the in-season preparation.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: How do I take care of my body to be
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: ready to go to the post every night? What am
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: I doing to prepare for that night's pitcher? What am
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: I doing? How do I develop a solid routine? And
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: that routine is a little bit different for everybody. And
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: you've got to learn to develop that. But I think
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: the really good guys, A, love, love the game. You've
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: got to love it. It's very, very rare that you
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: have the guy that's just so good and he doesn't
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: really love the game, but he just plays it well anyway.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: That's rare.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: Okay?
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: I think, generally speaking, you've got to love what you do,
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: but you've got to love the non-glamorous part. Like you said,
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: the preparation, the... training that goes on in the winter
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: with your body and getting up and, you know, everything
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: from nutrition to sleep to getting yourself ready for 162-game
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: season to then, like, okay, that daily grind. And it is.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: I say grind all the time because it is such
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: a good description of what this is. You've got to
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: be able to handle failure and do it every single
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: day But you do that by being really dialed in
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: in your preparation and in that physical preparation, that classroom preparation,
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: that ability to also like. Breathe and cut yourself some
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: slack and like, OK, it's a game, you know, like
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: you better have some perspective doing this. Sean Casey is
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: always saying, you know, you gotta, have you, have you
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: worked on your perspective muscle today? I think it's very
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: important to have because you can go through the season
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: and in this game, it's such a game of failure
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: and you're doing it every single day. And how do
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: you handle that? You've, And the way I do is
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: I think there's things all the time that come up
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: throughout the year. We just played on the 25th anniversary
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: of 9-11, Mets and Yankees. Like, you know, we're in
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: a playoff chase and getting ready for the postseason. And
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: these are big games. And, you know, one of the
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: things I wanted to share with my players on that
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: day is like, you know, there's things that come up
• 30:23
  Speaker 3: that hopefully remind you that, yeah, what we're doing is
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: our livelihood. yeah, what we're doing is really important and
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: we all pour so much into it every day. But
• 30:34
  Speaker 3: this is a day that hopefully offers you on some
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: perspective about like, we are playing a game. It's supposed
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: to be fun. You know, in that case, you know,
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: baseball served as such a important, played an important role
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: in the aftermath of what went on in 9-11 and
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: the healing and everything. And like, have that perspective, like that,
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: what you get to do Yeah, I think that's critical.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: And I try and throughout the year, whether when I
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: was a player or even now, like when I was
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: going through a really rough stretch, like, hey, you know, yeah,
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: this is really important. But, you know, you've also got
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: to be able to separate between baseball and your and
• 31:18
  Speaker 3: your life and your family and all that to when
• 31:22
  Speaker 3: it's going great. And, you know, your head's going to
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: be in the clouds a little bit like, yeah, I
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: got like, no. You know, it's a game. We're entertaining.
• 31:32
  Speaker 3: And it's important to have those moments, I think, throughout
• 31:38
  Speaker 3: the year that remind you of, put some perspective on
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: what we get to do.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, rhetorical question, but why is it so much easier
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: to recognize when things are going great, probably going to
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: come back to earth, but when things stink, it's really
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: hard to say, I'm going to be okay. Why is
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: it so much easier to bring yourself back down as
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: opposed to lift yourself back up?
• 32:03
  Speaker 3: It's true. It's true. But you know what? The experience
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: of this game, really my whole life, you know, watching
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: as a baby and a kid, my dad do it,
• 32:14
  Speaker 3: like you've got to understand you've got to have that
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: level of even keel in that, you know, it's– It's
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: a blessing that we get to do it. And I
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: try to remind myself of that a lot on both sides.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: Of the ledger.
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Again, when things are going great, when things are rough,
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: you know, and things come up in your player's personal life, like,
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: you know, a family member, you know, a death, you know,
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: all those things that happen all the time that make
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: you pause and go, all right. we're playing, we are
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: playing a game.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: This is Sturt from the dugout as part of the
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: parent dugout, your one-stop shop. You're a parent. You have
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: a young player. This is your resource. You can ask
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: the questions, get the answers. It is dedicated to you
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: and your player's journey. The parent dugout.com. Great stuff again, Justin. Thanks, Ravi. Hey, everybody,
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: and welcome to the latest edition of Dirt from the Dugout.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: Justin Musil, Carl Ravitch, our guest this week, Aaron Boone,
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: part two of the conversation about to be played here.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: And Booney and I go back a long way. I mean,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: he and I knew each other from the day he
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: started as a major league player in 97. It covered
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: his entire career through 2009, and they got a chance
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: to work with him. And I know in part one
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: of the conversation with Booney on Dirt from the Dugout, Justin,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: you got a real, to me, a real chance to
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: understand like what this guy is all about. You know,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: it's the Yankee manager, but there's so much more, there's
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: so much more depth to who Aaron Boone is. And
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: I do think it has served him well with all
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: the wins, you know, that he's able to accomplish and
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: the relationships that he has with his players, both on
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: and off the field.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, he just has amazing perspective, right? And
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: he talks, he talks about that. And I think it's,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: It's so incredible the amount of pressure he's under, right?
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's the heat that he's under all the time.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: And to mentally be able to block all that off,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: block all that out, block that noise out. I just
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: think it's an amazing ability that some people have that
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: they can just lock in and focus and block some
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: of those things out. But what a great lesson, Ravi,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: for the youngsters out there too, right?
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: He has great insight for parents, but he has great
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: insight for players and just how to focus and how
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: to get rid of some of the things in your
• 34:37
  Speaker 2: life that are maybe letting you ride too high or
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: too low, right? I mean, all that stuff is so
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: useful for all of us, Ravi, as people. Like, just
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: such good insight.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, 100%. And, you know, you talk about pressure. Certainly
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: wearing the pinstripes is pressure. But he was born into
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: a family whose last name is Boone in baseball. Grandfather Boone.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: You know, in part one, he talked all about the expectations.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: He did say, like, you know, people say that I
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: have a choice. He said, my choice was to play baseball. Now,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: the difference between the days that his grandfather and father
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: played to what he played and to what he's managing
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: in are magnified by what you talked about, social media.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: We start part two with a question from Justin about
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: dealing with all that is out there on social media,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: as well as the media market that is New York.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 35:28
  Speaker 3: Well, so as the manager, as the leader, I lead
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: with this now in spring training. I think I have
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: the last few years. It's one of the first things
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: I talk about in the first talk to the team
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: is social media. And because it's such a big factor
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: and everyone, for the most part, has some presence on it,
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: whether they follow it or not. So I challenge the
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: guys right away in spring training, like, especially being here
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: in New York, like, okay, if you're on social media,
• 36:01
  Speaker 3: make sure it's serving you. And everyone's different. By the way, some,
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: some guys can handle the, the banter on social media
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: or the negativity or the positive, you know, it, it
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: fuels them or it doesn't affect them. But I've also
• 36:17
  Speaker 3: seen it affect a lot of people in a negative way.
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: So I challenge our guys right away. Like, who are you?
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: You know, How is it affecting you? Because you got
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: a small window to have a career here, right? In
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: the grand scheme of your life, this is a blink
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: of the eye that is going to be your career here.
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: And I'll be damned if I'm going to let somebody
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: that shouldn't have any factor on what I'm doing between
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: the lines have an effect. So I challenge guys like,
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: you know, some of our guys like Cam can handle
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: it all. I mean, it's kind of fuels them a
• 36:53
  Speaker 3: little bit. But other guys... I've seen it take down,
• 36:56
  Speaker 3: you know, like, so it's like, don't give that any
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: space or, or place in your life. So if you
• 37:03
  Speaker 3: need to cut some things out, cut it out because
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: you don't want somebody that have an effect on you
• 37:08
  Speaker 3: that should have no effect on you. So I leave
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: that every year. And, and the one guy that talked
• 37:13
  Speaker 3: to me about or talk to us was John Carlo.
• 37:17
  Speaker 3: You know, he's got, he's got so good at playing,
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: in New York and dealing with the noise. And I
• 37:24
  Speaker 3: think it was a learned thing for him. Like, you know,
• 37:27
  Speaker 3: he came from Miami to New York as a big guy. Oh, okay.
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: This is different. But he, he got so good over
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: the years that just like it, all the noise to
• 37:37
  Speaker 3: him doesn't matter. And it's just that he knows what
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: he needs to do to be successful in that box. So,
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: and he said, you know, after 21, we lost to
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: the Red Sox in the wild card. And this is
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: when he said it after the team. He said it
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: to our team and to the guys. And Giancarlo doesn't
• 37:57
  Speaker 3: speak a lot, but when he does, it's really, really valuable.
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: And you listen. And he's like, you know, you can
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: find whatever you want on social media. Good, how great
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: you think you are, and how terrible you are. It's
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: all there. And it's all toxic. if, if, if that's
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: defining who you are, um, as a player or as
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: a person or whatever. So that stuck with me and,
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: and it made me realize the importance of nowadays, the
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: importance of, and just the social media presence that exists
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: for all of us to some degree. And certainly all
• 38:39
  Speaker 3: of our players, like what can you handle? And this
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: should have no place, um, in having an effect on
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: your career, especially negative.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. How about you? How have you changed in handling
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: that from when you first took over as the manager
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: with no experience as a manager to where you are today?
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: If Giancarlo, you know, improved and evolved in that way,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: I assume you did.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't, during the season, I don't really look
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: at much at all. I mean, I, you know, I'm
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: on Instagram, but I never, I stopped long time ago
• 39:21
  Speaker 3: reading like comments people will have about you. So that
• 39:26
  Speaker 3: one I've kind of sworn off because I can be
• 39:28
  Speaker 3: petty and want to like, okay, you want to go
• 39:30
  Speaker 3: out of here you know so um try and learn
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: to take the high road on certain things um but
• 39:40
  Speaker 3: also know when you need to stand up for certain
• 39:42
  Speaker 3: things so but i try to see what i need
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: to see.
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: Only right Plus, you know, the microscope that you're under.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, literally, we talk about success and failure and
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: short term and long term and perspective. Minute by minute,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: a manager's decisions can be critiqued and often are if
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: you were on social media. Smart not to do that.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: But when you think about careers, seminal moments can define careers.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: You had one of those. So Maverick here, I know
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: you've told this story before. A million times. Royce, I
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: should say. Royce wants to go back to game seven
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: of 2003. And he kind of wants you. And I
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: wonder how often this story in your own mind has evolved.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: 11th inning, Wakefield's out there. You've been with the Yankees
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: for a couple of months. You know, get into the
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: batter's box for Royce and for the people that are
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: on here and will eventually see this podcast again. What
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: was going through your head? And then what was it
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: like when you realized the ball was gone? And then
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: maybe personally for me, like, how's that story changed? Have
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: details become crisper? Have they become softer? I'm just curious.
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: So I was a very streaky player and I was
• 40:57
  Speaker 3: not in a good streak here. I was not swinging
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: the bat well at all. And I had faced Wakefield
• 41:05
  Speaker 3: a bunch down the stretch in a couple of regular
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: season games, and then obviously in the playoffs, and really
• 41:12
  Speaker 3: didn't have any success against them. So I enter that game,
• 41:18
  Speaker 3: I'm in there, and I'm running off the field to
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: end the top of the 11th. I knew Mariano had
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: just finished his third inning. I knew he was done.
• 41:29
  Speaker 3: And I'm leading off the inning, and Joe Torre knew
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: I was scuffling and pressing a little bit, whatever. And
• 41:38
  Speaker 3: he just said, as I'm walking up to on deck circle, hey,
• 41:41
  Speaker 3: stay through the middle. Stay through the middle. Doesn't mean
• 41:43
  Speaker 3: you won't go deep. Just stay through the middle. So
• 41:45
  Speaker 3: I'm like, all right. So I'm getting ready on deck.
• 41:48
  Speaker 3: And on deck, I was going to take a pitch.
• 41:57
  Speaker 3: Just see a pitch. And as I'm walking to home plate,
• 42:00
  Speaker 3: I'm like, gosh, quit overthinking this. Get a good pitch
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: to hit. Could be the first one, could be the
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: seventh one, whatever. Get a good pitch to hit. Well,
• 42:09
  Speaker 3: it happened to be the first one. It was a
• 42:11
  Speaker 3: good one to hit, and here we go. The one
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: thing I remember is in 2001, I got hit on
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: the hands and broke my wrist and hamate and thumb
• 42:26
  Speaker 3: and three different injuries in 01. So I had this
• 42:30
  Speaker 3: lightweight plastic pad that Velcroed onto my batting glove. that
• 42:35
  Speaker 3: I wore for the rest of my career. And I
• 42:39
  Speaker 3: swung and never before had the Velcro unstrapped. So if
• 42:43
  Speaker 3: you see me running around second, I'm restrapping the thing
• 42:46
  Speaker 3: because the Velcro had come off on the swing, which
• 42:50
  Speaker 3: was remarkable. And I do remember, you know, you hit
• 42:52
  Speaker 3: home runs in your career, and especially back then, you
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: just kind of put your head down and ran. You know,
• 42:57
  Speaker 3: we didn't do a lot of celebrating of, you know.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: I do remember... telling myself like, Hey, look around, try
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: and drink this.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 43:09
  Speaker 3: But, but I, as I tell people all the time,
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: it's one of those very foggy memories. I have no, like,
• 43:16
  Speaker 3: you know, there's certain memories you have like 20 years ago,
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: 30 years ago that are like, Oh, I remember where
• 43:21
  Speaker 3: I was, what I was, you know, it was almost photographic.
• 43:24
  Speaker 3: This is not one of those. So I just see it.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: When I see a replay of it, It's playing on
• 43:30
  Speaker 3: a loop in my house right now. I pick up
• 43:32
  Speaker 3: different people in the crowd.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it is.
• 43:39
  Speaker 3: But actually, for the longest time, honestly, not a sour taste.
• 43:47
  Speaker 3: I'm very appreciative of it. I loved it. And the stories,
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: the intimate stories that people have attached to that moment,
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: which I can relate to as a sports fan because
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: I have those moments of my own. In my fandom, right? Well, hey,
• 44:02
  Speaker 3: I was here. I was at a frat party. I
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: was in my house and jumped and hit, you know,
• 44:09
  Speaker 3: all these different stories that I've heard hundreds of them,
• 44:13
  Speaker 3: which is amazing. So I've always had an appreciation for it. But,
• 44:17
  Speaker 3: you know, we lost the World Series. So it just like,
• 44:25
  Speaker 3: and that was just so, disappointing and like to not
• 44:31
  Speaker 3: finish it off. Like it soured it for a while
• 44:34
  Speaker 3: for me. And then as I was still having a
• 44:35
  Speaker 3: career with other teams in a way, I would kind
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: of distance myself from it because that's what people always
• 44:42
  Speaker 3: wanted to talk to about. I go to a new team, understandable.
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: And I'd kind of be like, yeah, you know, but
• 44:50
  Speaker 3: I distanced myself as I've gotten older, you know, as I,
• 44:54
  Speaker 3: when I retired and I hear those stories and stuff, um,
• 44:59
  Speaker 3: I started to have, I think, even more and more
• 45:01
  Speaker 3: of an appreciation as time's gone on for the moment. And,
• 45:06
  Speaker 3: you know, just pretty cool to have a moment.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: That's really cool. Justin, just two things you take from that.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Like the idea that somebody tapped you on the shoulder
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: when you're walking to the box and said, ah, swing
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: at the first good one. I was going to take, like,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: that's amazing. And then you're running around second and you're
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: fixing the Velcro is just mind-blowing to me. Like that's
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: just like routine reaction. Like, oh yeah, I'm a ball player.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: It's getting loose. I got to wrap it. And you
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: just hit arguably one of the biggest home runs in
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: franchise history. Those two things now I'm going to remember like,
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: when I retell the Booney story, this idea that you
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: went to the batter's box with one idea and in
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: those 30 steps changed your mind and hit is unreal
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: to me. That's unreal.
• 45:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: Booney, Booney, the one time I was at your house
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: in Arizona, we got in with a podcast and we
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: were talking about game seven. We, as we heard the
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: home run and we walked out and you, your wife at,
• 46:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember this, but your wife
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: asked us, what was, what was the topic about? And
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: I was like, ah, we were talking about the home run.
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: She said, we're still talking about that.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 46:24
  Speaker 3: I'm going to go. Yeah. We'll be talking about her
• 46:25
  Speaker 3: again right now.
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: There you go. Exactly. Yeah. All right, Buddha here. We're
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: about to wrap up. We do what we call the
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: kitchen sink. So these are four kind of rapid fire questions,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: not necessarily related to baseball or, or, or something that
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: we've discussed already. First question for you, Kitchen Sink, your
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: favorite non-baseball athlete of all time, who is it?
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: Mo Cheeks.
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: Mo Cheeks. Mo Cheeks, Sixers. Yeah, he loves, this dude
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: loves the Sixers. And Booney and I used to go
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: back and forth because I, of course, grew up a
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: Celtics fan. So the Sixers and Mo Cheeks and Andrew
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: Toney and Bobby Jones and Caldwell, Dawkins, we hated them all.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: And Booney and I would have great discussions about the
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: Celtics-Sixers rivalry.
• 47:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Mo cheeks, Mo cheeks. And then, and then when, uh, when, uh,
• 47:14
  Speaker 3: Moses Malone came, I loved Moses too. And I got
• 47:17
  Speaker 3: to meet Moses a few months before he passed away,
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: actually at a charity event. And he was awesome. So
• 47:23
  Speaker 3: that was, that was cool. And then Byron Evans was
• 47:27
  Speaker 3: my favorite Eagle. He was of those early nineties defenses
• 47:31
  Speaker 3: that were amazing. Unheralded one. He was the middle linebacker.
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: He made all the tackles with the, with the white, uh,
• 47:40
  Speaker 3: long underwear ripping out of his.
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 47:43
  Speaker 3: Those are my guys.
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: I love that.
• 47:45
  Speaker 3: There we go.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: See the Philly connections there. A lot of Philly connections. Yeah.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: All right. Three, three guests alive or dead. Who are
• 47:52
  Speaker 2: you inviting to dinner?
• 47:55
  Speaker 3: Ooh, babe.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: Gotta have them. Are you inviting babe? So he can
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: tell you how to hit Homer's booty, or he's going
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: to tell you all the other stories about babe's existence.
• 48:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I need it all.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: Gotcha.
• 48:14
  Speaker 3: I want to hear it all. Babe, Charles Barkley.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 48:24
  Speaker 3: I want him there. And let's see. We may as
• 48:34
  Speaker 3: well go way back. Let's get Lincoln involved.
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 48:40
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: All right. I like that. That's an interesting one. Babe
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: and Barkley would have great stories. I'm sure Abe's got
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: a few. That's good.
• 48:48
  Speaker 3: He's got to have some, he's.
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: Got to have some, I fill in the blank winning
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: a world series as a manager of the Yankees would mean, uh, everything. Hmm.
• 49:03
  Speaker 3: That's why I'm doing this. Um, number one reason, um, So, look,
• 49:11
  Speaker 3: I have a very strong faith, but in this world,
• 49:16
  Speaker 3: it would mean so much to me to win. to
• 49:20
  Speaker 3: win a championship. And I desperately want it.
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: That's awesome, man. Understood.
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: Last one here before we get to your MVP, what
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: do friends, family critics claim? This is the best impression
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: you do. You're, you're known for your impressions, Booney. So
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: what do you got for us?
• 49:39
  Speaker 3: Um, probably Joe Torrey's become the one that people want me.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: To do a lot. Interesting.
• 49:46
  Speaker 3: Joe Torrey.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: I mean, just a little background here. So Torrey, I mean,
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: Booney does everybody incredibly. And when you grew up in clubhouses,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: this is how you're raised. But we were in Williamsport
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: for the Little League World Series, and we had gone
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: out to dinner. And Williamsport's a pretty sleepy town, but
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: we're out to dinner after our games. It's really late
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: at night. And it's me and Kirkshin, and I forget
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: who else were there. But Booney, probably Tim, because Tim
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: loves the impressions. He says, Booney, I need to see Torrey.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: In the middle of a road, he starts doing the
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: Joe Torrey coming out to take out a pitcher. And
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: it is unbelievable. But this is the middle of a
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: road in Williamsport. And Aaron Moon, hero in 03, now
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: working for ESPN, is doing a Joe Torrey impression walking
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: down a street in Williamsport.
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: Unreal.
• 50:37
  Speaker 3: I have some people that know that are like, could
• 50:41
  Speaker 3: you just do one pitching change doing that?
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: I haven't done that.
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: It is the greatest, but it's the greatest in a
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: long list of Aaron Boone greatest hits. All right, here
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: you go, buddy. Here's the one that we ask everybody
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: before we say goodbye. This is not the MVP as
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: far as most valuable player, but who's been the most
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: valuable person in your life? Now, when you were a child,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. Who's the MVP for you? Most valuable person.
• 51:09
  Speaker 3: My dad, he is, he just, you know, was such
• 51:16
  Speaker 3: a great example of, from an integrity standpoint, from a dad,
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: family man, just, you know, and like I said, like
• 51:33
  Speaker 3: we talked about early on in this, because sports is
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: such a big part of, my family's life and obviously baseball,
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: but I felt like he was just such an amazing
• 51:43
  Speaker 3: example of how to be as a dad. You know,
• 51:48
  Speaker 3: he was, he, you know, I, I always feel, you know,
• 51:54
  Speaker 3: and my dad's not doing great right now. And, you know,
• 51:57
  Speaker 3: I just feel, I've always felt this unconditional love from
• 52:01
  Speaker 3: my dad and my mom for that matter, that, has
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: always been the ultimate blessing for me. Like the unconditional
• 52:09
  Speaker 3: love I felt at every stage of my life from
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: them has been amazing.
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: So good, man.
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Thanks very much for sharing that. I know
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: it means a lot to you. We'll pray for your dad.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: And we certainly wish you the best of luck. People
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: ask me all the time, Justin and booty. I mean,
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: I probably have shared this with you, but people say,
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: you know, you grew up in Boston. Like who do
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: you root for? Do you root for the Red Sox?
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: And I said, at this stage of my life, I
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: root for people. and knowing how important it would be
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: for Booney to win a world series. I root for
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: you to have success and win a world series because
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: of the person you are, not necessarily the uniform you wear.
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: I really get a kick and great joy from when
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: people that I love and respect have success. So we,
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: me are rooting for you to have that success because
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: of who you are. And I am grateful you came
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: on the show with us, Booney.
• 53:00
  Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that. And, uh, you know, um, You
• 53:05
  Speaker 3: told me I was going to have a good time
• 53:07
  Speaker 3: doing this, and I certainly did. So glad I was
• 53:10
  Speaker 3: able to get on. Sorry for my voice. I got
• 53:12
  Speaker 3: a little cold traveling from the West Coast last night,
• 53:15
  Speaker 3: but it's good to be on with you guys and
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: always great to see you.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: Thanks, buddy. Thanks, Tony.
• 53:21
  Speaker 3: Love you, brother.
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: See you. Thanks, buddy. That's Aaron Boone, of course. And
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: this is Sturt from the Dugout as part of the
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Parent Dugout, your one-stop shop. You're a parent. You have
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: a young player. This is your resource. You can ask
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: the questions, get the answers. It is dedicated to you
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: and your player's journey. Theparentdugout.com. Great stuff again, Justin. Thanks, Ravi.