Aaron Boone’s Unorthodox Postgame Tradition Could be Fueling Yankees’ Confidence

Yankees manager Aaron Boone began a new tradition with his players this year that has been promoting positivity.

Jun 1, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone (17) laughs while talking to the media in the dugout before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

Aaron Boone has decided to display his leadership differently during the 2024 MLB season. And his means of doing so seems to be a reason why his New York Yankees have baseball's best record right now. 

In a June 14 article, The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty detailed how after every Yankee win this season, Boone has delivered game balls to players with handwritten messages on them. 

“It’s never the obvious pick,” Kuty writes of Boone’s new tradition. “That’s the player who gets the championship belt from his teammates. Instead, Boone usually chooses either that day’s next-best player, or someone who did something crucial that may have flown under the radar yet still aided the win.”

An example of this is how Marcus Stroman received Boone’s ball after New York’s 10-1 win over the Kansas City Royals on Monday. While Austin Wells was given the Yankee’s championship belt for crushing a three-home run that day, Stroman also threw 5.2 shutout innings in the win.

So, Boone gave Stroman a dirty ball that had, “Game Ball #48 Another strong Tone-setter Six shutty — Aaron Boone” written on it. 

Boone decides who gets the ball during the team’s postgame high-five line after being given the game ball by Yankees’ senior director of organizational performance Chad Bohling. He then scribbles out a “​​word or a sentence to capture what [the player] did in a game that helped us win,” in his office before giving it to the chosen player in the clubhouse. 

In his seventh season as the Yankees’ manager decided to start this tradition in Spring Training as a way to help build camaraderie and confidence in the clubhouse. 

“I think it’s important [for players] to at least have some level of connection with the manager, and I try to do that,” Boone said.

Yankees superstar outfielder Juan Soto said of Boone’s game balls, “It’s really special. Your manager comes over to you and tries to give you a little bit of a heads up that it doesn’t matter if anyone else saw what you did, he saw it and he appreciated it.” 

Boone’s handwritten tradition is adding to the positive energy that’s currently swirling around this Yankees’ team.

Now, the question becomes who will receive Boone's game ball on Friday night after the Yankees' first of three games against the AL East rival Boston Red Sox.