Julie Jacobson/Associated Press
Aaron Boone’s ability to decompress a situation was apparent long before he was hired as the Yankees’ manager. As a color commentator in the ESPN broadcast booth, he made an ally out of his fellow analyst Jessica Mendoza, who said Boone knew how to help her calm down moments before the red light went on to beam the pair to millions of Sunday Night Baseball viewers.
Sensing his partner’s anxiety, Boone would playfully shriek about how he was freaking out as the lights were about to come on.
“Of course he wasn’t freaking out,” Mendoza, now also working for the Mets as a special adviser, said last summer.