Don’t worry, Boston Red Sox fans. Aaron Boone also wants to move past that infamous walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.
The blast that sent the New York Yankees to the World Series to face the then-Florida Marlins lives in infamy for the Red Sox and their fans, but what is often lost in the hysteria of such a huge home run was what happened just nine days later: the Yankees lost.
And it’s for that reason the recently hired Yankees manager tried to forget the home run.
“I appreciate it now,” Boone said of the dinger in his introductory press conference Wednesday. “For a long time, I kind of distanced myself from it because we lost the World Series. You know, as you meet athletes all the time, some of the things that stick with you the most and remember the most are not getting it done.”
Sure, it is one of the most iconic home runs in Major League Baseball history, but the Yankees’ season did end with the same amount of despair as the team that was on the losing end of Boone’s blast.
But while Boone has tried to move past it, Yankees fans haven’t exactly made it easy.
“Not a week goes by that I’m not reminded of how big the New York Yankees are or how big their reach are,” Boone said. “I’ve had hundreds of stories told to me too about where people were or what side of the ledger they were on.”
Maybe Boone being so candid about the homer will mark even a slight dwindling in the reliving of that October evening.
