Aaron Boone: All heart in many ways
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Sep 16, 2009 
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Hal McCoy, a legend in my business who is soon to retire, wrote this terrific piece on his relationship with Aaron Boone.
The Reds are having Hal McCoy Day to honor him today. Hal has covered the team for 37 years but cutbacks at his paper, the Dayton Daily News, are leading to his retirement. This is a very fun job, but these are hard times for a lot of people in the industry.
That’s pretty classy of the Reds.
Thanks for the link Pete. I became a fan when I saw an interview that Aaron and his dad did many years ago, when Aaron played for him. He always struck me as such a nice and down-to-earth person. I was so happy when he came to the Yankees and so disappointed when he had that knee injury that ended his Yankee career.
Hal McCoy is a tremendous writer. His articles are filled with humor and compassion, writing about the team he loves.
If he had spent his years writing here in NYC about the Yanks or Mets he’d be a legend instead of a relative unknown.
Enjoy your well-deserved, if unwelcome, retirement, Mr. McCoy. I, for one, look forward to reading your memoirs.
How sad is it that a terrific journalst is thrown out of work? Here’s hoping that somehow the newspaper industry can find a way out of this mess. It will be an American tragedy if they don’t. I find myself buying the NY Times and thinking of it as a donation to literacy.
I don’t know much about Hal McCoy but if he is anything like Aaron Boone , he is a class act
Drive 4-5-
I know exactly what you mean. My dad has a bizarre addiction to Su Duko puzzles and buys every local paper daily to do them. I am just glad its a small step to keeping newspapers alive. (No, it never did dawn on him he can do them online)
Erica-
you have been quiet this am…did you ever get your snoopy?
Just of curiosity, did Girardi give his standard “I thought he pitched pretty well” summation of Mitre’s performance last night?
wouldn’t it be great if the big tv sports conglomerates like espn, mlbnetwork and foxsports hire people like Hal and our own Petey A instead of having to subject us to the likes of the dead and bloated john kruk and braindead steve phillips every night…
what absolute garbage we are being forced to watch while hal and pete are living in fear of losing their jobs on a weekly basis..
wouldn’t it be nice if the big tv sports conglomerates like espn, mlbnetwork and foxsports hire people like hal and pete a instead of subjecting us to the likes of the dead and bloated john kruk and braindead steve phillips…
Just out of curiousity, why do you want a manager who buries his players?
Lou Pinella does that. How is that working out for him?
Seems to me one of the positive traits Girardi brings to the table is that he doesn’t throw his players under the bus. He goes a bit overboard sometimes. So what? I fail to see how that is a transgression of any significant kind.
The players seem to appreciate that since guys like Tex and Swisher have said Girardi is the best manager they have ever played for.
But, what do I know. Best record in baseball and some people on here still rip the guy on a daily basis.
Go figure.
Ozzie is another fine example of throwing your players under the bus…look at how much better Swish is playing here.
“Just out of curiousity, why do you want a manager who buries his players?”
I wouldn’t. In fact, I think Joe’s take was dead on last night. Didn’t lay blame, but did talk a lot about accountability. And group – not individual.
WB,
Exactly.
You could see Girardi was REALLY ticked off at his team last night. Rightfully so because you don’t need a brawl at this stage of the year.
So, he calls a team meeting, airs them out, and its done.
Guys like Ozzie and Lou call team meetings, then tell the media what they said in the team meeting to make them look like they are “in charge”.
Girardi, correctly, doesn’t do that.
That’s why the players respect him.
Is he perfect? No manager is perfect.
However, the guy has done a phenominal job with the team this year. I don’t think anybody can really question that.
upstate kate
September 16th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Erica-
you have been quiet this am…did you ever get your snoopy?
****
My job is a nightmare
And let’s just say Pete heard my pleas!!!! I am indeed getting my Yankee Snoopy!!!!
Erica-
Yay for you (for Snoopy anyway)
Hope your day improves.
1. That was a tremendous story about Hal McCoy and Aaron Boone. I thought Boone was a class guy when he owned up to hurting his knee playing basketball, instead of making up some story, even though he knew it risked the Yankees voiding his contract. This is a great story about a really nice, humane gesture that obviously meant a lot to McCoy.
Hey Pete, I thought sports writers were supposed to be a cynical bunch.
2. I thought the way Joe Girardi handled the mess last night – having a team meeting right after the game, and addressing things there and then; and just saying publicly that he had dealt with the matter, without mentioning names (who knows who or what else he talked about).
Joe doesn’t rip guys in public, and will support his players publicly, regardless of who they are. Not all managers or coaches in pro sports do that. This may be one of the things some of his players appreciate.
3. Is Mitre’s problems because of coming back too early from the TJ surgery? Outside of that one game against Chicago, he’s been pretty bad. Do any of our bloggers here with insight into this – randy, are you there – have any thoughts?
anyone else see the irony in the title of this post?
McCoy is a nice man