ALEX CORA AND AARON BOONE

When was it last in the rich and storied history of baseball — formerly known as our land’s national pastime — that a pair of rookie managers with exactly zero experience running the show, compiled the major league’s two best records so late in a season?

Ever?

Never.

Nope.

Not ever.

Not once in 149 years of record-keeping.

The Boston Red Sox at this writing stand at 63–29 .685; the New York Yankees are 59–30 .663. (The Houston Astros are next at 61–32 .656). More than one-half of the 162-game regular season slate has been completed. And the three managers in question have a combined 5+ years of experience, all belonging to Houston’s A.J. Hinch.

On May 8, 2009 Hinch was named manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks replacing Bob Melvin even though he had never managed or coached a team at any level. By July 1, 2010 he was gone, saddled with an 89–123 record. His .420 winning percentage was the second lowest in Diamondbacks history.

But shed no tears for Hinch. Hired to manage the Astros in 2015 he has compiled a 277–216 record good for a .562 WP (through April 4, 2018) and piloted the club to its first World Series title in 2017 (with Alex Cora by his side as bench coach).

So whither the other two?

And how did this scenario even unfold?

Both Alex Cora and Aaron Boone have the game of baseball coursing through their veins and it’s been their bloodlines since day one.

In their genes.

Cora’s older brother Joey, a .277 lifetime hitter who played for four big-league teams over an eleven-year career was his idol and mentor. He has been a major league coach since 2004.

Boone embodies baseball royalty.

He is the son of Bob Boone, a four-time All-Star catcher and World Series champion (1980); the grandson of Ray Boone, a two-time All-Star infielder, AL RBI leader (1955) and World Series champion (1948); and the brother of Bret Boone, a three-time All-Star second baseman, AL RBI king (2001), four-time Gold Glove Award winner and two-time Silver Slugger.

(Let the record reflect that another of Aaron’s brothers, Matt, was a minor league player in the Cincinnati Reds organization).

The Boone family was the first to send three generations of players to the All-Star Game — Aaron himself was an All-Star in 2003 — and when Bret’s son Jake was selected by the Washington Nationals in the 2017 draft, the regal family became the first ever to produce four generations of players.

Pedigree aside, it is highly unlikely that two young fellows — Cora is 42 and Boone is 45 — with no MLB managerial experience could pull this off.

In their post-playing days the two overlapped as talking heads at ESPN.

From February 2013 to 2016, Cora was a color analyst for both ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

Boone’s broadcasting portfolio was a bit thicker.

He served as a guest analyst for the MLB Network coverage of the 2009 ALCS between the Yankees and the Angels and then moved to ESPN, appearing on both Monday Night Baseball and Baseball Tonight’s Sunday night pregame show. He called the 2014 and 2015 World Series for ESPN Radio with play-by-play man Dan Schulman and in 2016 he and Jessica Mendoza joined Schulman as color commentators on the network’s Sunday Night Baseball extravaganza. Boone and Schulman continued to call World Series games for ESPN Radio through 2017.

Both were adept and highly regarded; their respective on-air personas drew viewers.

Each had a keen understanding of the game and its nuances and were facile if not brilliant in their ability to communicate. They kept it simple and concise but could seamlessly delve as deeply as the exchanges demanded.

They understood the audience and they effortlessly projected the incessant messaging (and yammering) in their earpieces onto the airwaves and through the camera.

Perhaps most importantly, they knew how to relate.

John Farrell and Joe Girardi, the respective predecessors of Cora and Boone must have known a thing or two themselves.

They too were major league ballplayers.

Farrell, 55, was a mediocre pitcher cobbling together a 36–46 record with a 4.56 ERA while toiling for three clubs over a ten-year career interrupted by serious elbow injuries.

Girardi, 53, was a .267 lifetime hitter as a catcher for four teams during a fifteen-year big league run. He was an All-Star in 2000; a four-time World Series champion — 3 as a player and one as a manager — and the NL Manager of the Year in 2006.

Farrell became a highly regarded pitching coach winning a WS title in 2007 with the Red Sox, serving at the pleasure of Tito Francona.

As the manager of the Red Sox in 2013 he won another one.

Two championship managers with voices growing tired.

And more tuned out by the moment, droning on ad nauseum.

Each ultimately shown the door, given the gate.

Human nature? Perhaps.

A sign of the times? Maybe.

A plea to narrow the generation gap? Certainly.

With Cora and Boone, youth trumped managerial inexperience. Neither were far removed from their playing days and their dulcet tones were fresh and new. Players, from the up-and-coming to the veteran welcomed each.

But it is talent which reigns supreme. Without it, the most innovative field generals and the best instructors are left wanting.

The current renditions of the Sox and the Yankees — and Houston for that matter — are loaded from top to bottom. Top-tier diamonds in the rough dot the farm systems with the Red Sox just recently falling well behind the Yankees and Astros.

Credit to the scouting and executive branches.

Cora, Boone and Hinch will eagerly volunteer that they are only as good as the talent they are entrusted to mold and meld.

It’s a marathon, a very long season. Parity has gone the way of the pencil and paper.

Things happen. Quickly.

But one thing is money, the truth.

Cora and Boone as first-year skippers are etching their names into the record books, a game at a time.

And maybe one of them will join Hinch as a World Series-winning manager right around Halloween.

[Editor’s Note: This piece was written by Mr. Kaplan in July 2018].

ADDENDA: In 2018 the Red Sox finished 108–54 good for first place in the AL East; the Yankees were second with a 100–62 record; and Houston won the AL West sporting a mark of 103–59.

The Sox eliminated the Yankees and then Houston in the ALDS and ALCS respectively before vanquishing the Dodgers in the World Series in five games.

Both Alex Cora and A.J. Hinch were suspended by MLB and fired*** by their clubs for their roles in the much-ballyhooed sign-stealing scandal. Punishment was meted out in January 2020 and April 2020.

***Cora and the Red Sox “mutually agreed to part ways.”