Aaron Boone has no regrets.
“None,” he said, sitting in the visiting dugout yesterday afternoon, back at Yankee Stadium for the first time since he was a member of the 2003 team, back for the first time he ripped up his knee playing hoops.
Boone hit one of the more memorable home runs in recent Yankee history when he took Tim Wakefield deep in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS two years ago. His solo home run vaulted the Yanks into the World Series and extended Boston’s championship drought, which has since ended.
“Fans don’t forget something like that,” Joe Torre said of Boone’s series-clinching home run. “It’s just sad what happened on the heels of that.”
Later that winter, Boone, who hit .170 with two homers in the 2003 playoffs in pinstripes, tore up his left knee playing pick-up basketball.
He was later released by the team for violating his contract that would have paid him $5.5 million last year and spent all of last year out of baseball.
His injury, it could be argued, made it possible for the Yankees to trade for Alex Rodriguez and helped to set into motion a series of events that ended with the Red Sox winning it all last year.
“I’ve had people bring it up and draw those links for me,” Boone said. “I don’t really put much into it. Certain things affect certain things, obviously, but I don’t dwell on it or consider what it means.”
He also says he hasn’t dwelled on his storybook home run from two years ago. For many, it would be the highlight of their career, but for Boone, it’s a bit of a sore subject.
“I really don’t even like to talk about it that much because it’s in the past, I’m playing and I have a lot going on with this team and that’s my focus,” said Boone, who went into last night’s four-game series with the Yanks batting .193 with nine home runs. “That’s something I’ll reflect on more maybe when I’m done. It’s something, even though I’m sitting out here talking to you guys, I try to distance myself from a little bit.”
Boone certainly doesn’t live in the past, and he said he doesn’t keep in touch with any of his former Bomber teammates. Before batting practice, he exchanged hugs and handshakes with Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, John Flaherty and Tino Martinez. But that was about all the reminiscing Boone was doing.
“It was a pretty special thing that happened,” he said. “But it has been easy for me to move on. You have a lot going on each day over the course of a Major League season, and we have a lot going on right now as a team.”