New York Yankees: Aaron Boone takes over as manager

A little over a month since the New York Yankees fired Joe Girardi; the team has a new manager, Aaron Boone.

The heavily-anticipated decision on who takes over the New York Yankees vacant managerial position is finally over.

According to Bill Madden, a newswriter for the New York Daily News, the Yankees decided to make former Yankee third baseman Aaron Boone their manager, Friday. The New York Yankees have yet to confirm.

The Yankees had six different interviewees for the manager’s position. The six included Boone, Yankees bench coach Rob Thomson, San Francisco Giants bench coach Hensley Meulens, Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Chris Woodward, former MLB manager Eric Wedge and recently retired Carlos Beltran.

Madden reported early on Friday that the final two candidates were Boone and Meulens. San Francisco Chronicle Reporter Henry Schulman reported that Meulens was not leaving the Giants staff.

Once Schulman reported that the process of elimination, it led to Boone as the new manager of the New York Yankees. Boone spent 12 seasons in MLB. He played with the Yankees in 2003. The Cincinnati Reds traded him to the Yankees before the 2003 trade deadline.

Boone hit, arguably, the most significant home run in Yankees history. In Game 7 of the ALCS, the Yankees, and rival Boston Red Sox stood knotted at 5 in the bottom of the 11th inning.

Boone stepped into the box and took the first pitch he saw from Tim Wakefield into the left-field seats for a walk-off home run to send New York to the World Series. The Yankees went on to lose to the Florida Marlins in the World Series.

That big home run was apparently the most significant moment of Boone’s career. His career stats include a slash line of .263/.326/.425 with 126 home runs, 555 RBI and 519 runs scored.

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He played for five other teams, including the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.

Boone made one All-Star team in his career (2003). He also found himself on the BBWAA 2015 Hall of Fame ballot but didn’t receive five percent of the vote, thus ending his chance at Cooperstown.

Before his hiring with New York, Boone found success as a baseball analyst for ESPN. Now, the 44-year-old has some big shoes to fill.

Taking over after the controversial firing of Joe Girardi won’t leave him much room for error, in a tough area like New York. The Yankees fired Girardi shortly after the team lost to the Astros in the ALCS.

Next: Wellington Castillo signs with the Chi Sox

Girardi took over the manager’s position in 2008. He won a World Series with the club back in 2009. Many felt Girardi shouldn’t have lost his job after leading a young team to the ALCS.

Now with Aaron Boone leading the club, we’ll see if the New York Yankees can find more success in 2018, and perhaps win a championship.