BOONE IS ABOUT PRIVILEGE, NOT TRUE HARD WORK

It's October... and the Yankees aren't in the playoffs.

I rooted for the San Francisco Giants last night. That team has balls. 

Now there's an example of a guy like Gape Kapler at the helm that still needs to truly cut his teeth as a manager... but here's the difference... the dude played ball for 12 years like Boone, but Kapler didn't come in on a pedagree. Daddy and grandpa weren't part of the baseball family long before him. Kapler came up earning a spot and going for it. 

His dad was a classical pianist in Brooklyn. His mother was an educator. But there's more to it. There's no privilege when it comes to Gabe Kapler. What you see is what you get. He comes to work, he expect nothing but excellence when his team hits the field and his team respects the hell out of him because he lets them play. In return, the team's scrappy... the team knows how to play, long ball, small ball... baseball.

I'm big on earning things. I'm not saying Boone's a bad person... all I'm saying if that Boone doesn't know enough about leadership and experience to command respect because he is a man of privledge.  I tweeted this the other night in my ramblings of the Wild Card game.

Boone. Only moment in baseball for him homering against the Red Sox in 2003. Again… why does it make him qualified to manage the @Yankees?

— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) October 6, 2021

 I mean that's how I feel. That's how I've always felt. Don't get me wrong, I loved that home run all those years ago, but do you realize that after that he got hurt playing basketball and the Yankees basically told him to F off and dumped him? No one remembers that. It was kind of a scandal at the time. The hero became the zero... and it was all based on a bad decsision. Here... the New York Times from 2004:

"Boone told the Yankees last Monday that he had injured himself playing basketball, and the Yankees flinched at the news, even as they appreciated the admission. The injury came at the worst possible time for the Yankees, with virtually every third baseman already signed for the coming season." 

And so this is what has always bothered me.  He made a bad decision back then, essentially ending his baseball career after that.  But then, years later the Yankees bring him back as manager and he continues to make bad decisions and cannot save this team to win a championship.   And for me... it comes down to judgement. Can Boone decipher? 

No, not really because all his life he's been handed stuff.  Why? because of baseball royalty. His Boone family name has helped him.  

As a man myself with a 19 year old who plays college baseball, let me be the first to tell you that I watched my own son work his ass off and get passed over from time to time in his young baseball career. Why? Well, he's not a big kid, he doesn't hit dingers, but he knows how to this for average and has an amazing baseball IQ. But in baseball, that's not enough. For us, I was never directly involved with his high school or club teams. What I did teach my kid was that hard work mattered and "let them overlook you now, they're gonna want you later when you beat them." And that movie plays every season. These days, he earned his spot on his college team. But through his journey, we watched less talented players pass him by once in a while all because their daddy knew someone or they just kissed the right ass.  My point? Privilege is rampant. We saw it in the young baseball seasons for years... we see it now on the Major league level with a guy like Aaron Boone. Boone's not very complex because Boone was never challenged, he was handed things. He not a thinker, this is clear. 

And in the end, the Yankees just picked the wrong guy. They chose giving "an old baseball friend" a chance, and didn't choose to find a leader with guts.  And now... they're paying for it.  

The New York Post wrote:

"Whether Boone and the coaching staff will return remains in doubt, as the Yankees absorb another early postseason exit.

Boone has stated his desire to return, but also told The Post last month he wasn’t overly concerned about his future.

“I’m not worried about it,” Boone said at the time. “I’ll be fine whatever happens.”

And this is what bothers me the most. This is privilege. He doesn't understand hard work. He doesn't understand decision making, integrity, character.  Oh... he's "fine" with losing a job he can't do.  He'll be "fine" with "whatever happens."  The Yankees have to understand what they have here.  This guy hasn't earned a damn thing in his life, because if he did, he would take pride in his job, he'd command respect from this team. HE WOULD CARE.  But he doesn't. If they win, that's great for Boone... if the Yankees don't, he still gets paid. He's a lump. He's got Boone money, he'll be "fine."

If I'm Hal... I read Bleeding Yankee Blue today and I'm thinking long and hard about the Yankees future. If I'm Hal, I recognize what lack of earning means to his franchise. If I'm Hal, I ax Aaron Boone soon.  Unless of course... Hal Steinbrenner is the same guy as Boone, meaning, not earning anything all his life... just being handed his daddy's toy.

There's something to be said about hard work. It makes you more determined, passionate and a leader.  Boone's track record doesn't represnet any of that.  It's time for Boone and his coaching staff to leave.

We need to teach this Yankee team what it's like to play gritty, hard and true to the game. Anything less... is playing for Aaron Boone.