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Bob_R
05-12-2004, 01:47 PM
Honest truth: Boone a man in demand
May 12, 2004
By Scott Miller
SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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SAN DIEGO -- It is nearly the middle of May, and the Man Who Could Change the Pennant Race is in a strange place. He is not on a roster. He is not in a uniform. He is not even in a clubhouse.

Except for right now. Temporarily. Aaron Boone has driven south from his Southern California home to hug some of his old Cincinnati Reds teammates, to reminisce, to breathe deeply some of that missing baseball air.


Aaron Boone went from goat to hero with one swing of the bat last October.(Getty Images)
"I believe things happen for a reason," Boone said at San Diego's Petco Park on Tuesday, dressed in civilian jeans and a polo shirt. "I'll be a better person and, I believe, a better player for having gone through this."

He will go back to the gym tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Whoever heard of a baseball player, an October hero, spending his May days in a gym? But Boone has a knee to repair and a career to put back on track. He has a fate to meet, though he does not yet know exactly what that fate is.

It is odd being a free agent six weeks into the season. But he keeps pushing, because he is only 31 and because he is taking it on faith that, as quickly as this season was taken away from him, it could be given right back.

He estimates he is two months away from returning to the field.

He also estimates a total of 15 to 20 clubs have contracted his representative, agent Adam Katz. Of those, probably six or eight are serious.

So how about this scenario: The stretch run arrives this season, and Boone is playing ... second base for the New York Yankees?

Believe it. Very quietly, Boone and George Steinbrenner's club have kept in contact, and the Yankees have given the infielder every indication that if he regains his health, they are serious.

So is Los Angeles. Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta has been in frequent contact too, according to Boone.

Yes, Adrian Beltre is raking at third base for Los Angeles right now, but second base in Dodger Stadium appears to remain a realistic option, too.

"That's something we'll just have to see," Boone said. "I'm definitely open to a lot of things. It depends on the team and the situation. I'm open to about anything.

"We'll see what the process brings. I'll weigh the options and make a decision when the time is right."

Let's just say that the final domino from the "Aaron Boone Injures His Knee, Yankees Acquire Alex Rodriguez" story has yet to drop.

"I don't analyze it anymore," Boone said. "Right now, I'm in the process of getting healthy."

What is the most unlikely page of the Aaron Boone story?

That two months after Cincinnati traded him to the Yankees last summer, after the start of Boone's Yankee career was disappointing and after he struggled both offensively and defensively during the postseason ... that he would be the one to blast a Tim Wakefield pitch over the fence to win Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to send his new team to another World Series and strike another blow into New England's very soul?

That less than two months after that, while playing in the first pickup basketball game that he can remember, he would have the rotten luck of tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee?

That telling the truth would cost Boone $5 million?

It was right there in black and white. His contract specifically forbade Boone from playing basketball. So when a teammate dove over the baseline to save a ball from going out of bounds during a game near his home in Orange County, Calif., flipped the ball back toward the wing where Boone was standing off the free-throw line, and another player dove and cut Boone at the knees ... big trouble was ahead.

In the messy aftermath, the most impressive thing still is that Boone stood fast and told the truth. He could have lied. When Jeff Kent messed up his wrist a couple of springs ago with San Francisco in a motorcycle accident -- an activity forbidden in his contract -- he came up with some lame story. He fell off of his pickup truck while washing it. Real Joe Six-Pack, blue-collar stuff. Except, it wasn't true.

When the Yankees pulled Boone's contract out from under him -- he got about $900,000 and forfeited the remaining $5 million -- there were those who wondered why in the world Boone didn't hide the fact that he was playing basketball and concoct some other story. You know, he hurt it while lifting weights. Running. Anything.

"I don't know," Boone said, sighing. "Hopefully, I just don't live my life that way. It wasn't much of a decision. This is what happened to me. It's not a way I choose to live my life.

"I'm also of the belief that there are a lot more people out there who would have done the same thing. I don't think there was a decision."

Back in Cincinnati, among those with whom Boone had spent the previous six years of his career, it wasn't much of a surprise.

"He's a stand-up guy," Reds first baseman Sean Casey said. "People might say, 'That's a lot of money, why did he do that?'

"Well, he's an honest person. He does the right thing. When you do things like that, it comes back to you 10-fold. He'll get his day."

Far as Boone is concerned, that day is coming. He and Katz are just beginning to set up meetings now with clubs that are serious about signing him.

"Although it's not ideal, we're enjoying the process of free agency," said Boone, who batted .267 with 24 homers and 96 RBI in 160 games for the Reds and Yankees last season.

He harbors no bitterness against the Yankees -- obviously, if he's talking with them and considering a late-season return there.

"I think it was a very unique and ironic situation for everyone," Boone said. "For me. For them.

"Maybe they did what they had to do. I don't begrudge them. It was a tough spot for everyone involved."

Even in Southern California, across the country from that October night, someone seems to remind him of his Red Sox-crushing home run daily.

Still, perhaps never before has an October hero receded into the shadows so quickly. Literally, Boone remains overshadowed by Rodriguez. As Boone was hugging pitcher Danny Graves in the Reds' clubhouse at Petco on Tuesday, A-Rod was on the television above them, stroking a third-inning, RBI single against Anaheim.

But it doesn't matter anymore. The Yankees have moved on. A-Rod has moved on. And, maybe most important, a talented, hard-working and honest infielder is moving on.

"The season ended for me with a sour taste," Boone said, referring to the Yankees' World Series loss -- not his divorce from New York. "I went into this offseason wanting to get rid of that sour taste.

"More than missing anything, that's the biggest thing I long for."

It's a lot to digest such a short period of time. The historic homer. The freak basketball injury. The truth-telling. The kissing $5 million goodbye.

Certainly, sadly, many others have sold out for a lot less.

"If I'm as good a player as I think I am, I'm going to make plenty of money in this game," Boone said. "I don't mean it to be flip in the short term.

"But it's shortsighted if it's all about the money. Then you're in it for the wrong reasons."

POJO_Risin
05-12-2004, 08:22 PM
I didn't realize the Yanks DID CUT HIM...

He's a good player...and I wouldn't be surprised if he would end up playing second base for the Yankees...although the Dodgers fit better with where he lives...

it will be interesting though...

Roth & Roll
05-17-2004, 04:44 PM
I expect that the Yankees will re-sign him to play second base as soon as he's given a clean bill of health.

Enrique Wilson is NOT the answer and the Yankees have very few chips to deal if they are to make a trade.

LA may be closer to home for Boone, but I think his desire to get back to the World Series will override his desire to play closer to home.