Joe Torre's shadow will follow Aaron Boone all the way to the All-Star Game

The New York Yankees find themselves in first place in the AL East entering play on Tuesday, but if you think that has manager Aaron Boone in fans' good graces ... well, you probably don't know too many Yankees fans. Boone has borne the brunt of New York's ire amid a string of postseason failures over the last few years, and if he doesn't manage to get his team over the hump in 2025, it could cost him his job — a shocking thing to say about a man who's won 58.5% of his games as a big-league skipper, the 12th-highest win percentage in baseball history.

Of course, if Boone wanted job security, he probably would've chosen another line of work, or at least another city to work in. But he chose the Yankees, and in doing so, he guaranteed that he wouldn't be evaluated merely on wins and losses, but on championships. That's the standard handed down to him by Joe Torre, who won six AL pennants and four rings over 12 seasons in the Bronx.

Torre's legacy continues to haunt Boone, the shadow he just can't quite outrun. Not even when he goes all the way to Atlanta's Truist Park to lead the AL team in this year's All-Star Game, where Torre will be joining him in the dugout as an honorary coach.

Boone invited Torre and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt to join his staff for this season's Midsummer Classic. The two Yankees skippers, past and present, have always had a good relationship; after all, Torre knows better than anyone just how tough the pressure-cooker in the Bronx can be. Still, it's more than a little ironic that Boone and Torre will be in the dugout together in July, considering that a sizable portion of his own fan base would probably swap him out for Torre even now if given the chance.

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Joe Torre's legacy will keep weighing on Aaron Boone until he finally wins a ring

It's easy to forget now, but when Torre arrived in New York ahead of the 1996 season, the Yankees were closer to the league's laughing-stock than they were its preeminent power. The early part of that decade was a dark time for the franchise, beginning with George Steinbrenner's ban in July of 1990 after he hired gambler Howard Spira to dig up dirt on his own star player, Dave Winfield. (Yes, seriously.) New York suffered through four straight losing seasons from 1989 to 1992, and while things began to perk back up under Buck Showalter, it had been more than two decades since their last World Series title in 1978.

Then Torre showed up, and the rings immediately followed: one in 1996, then three in a row from 1998-2000. (Heck, he almost made it four in a row if not for Tony Womack and Luis Gonzalez.) Just like that, a whole new generation of Yankees fans developed a sense of entitlement about their favorite team, and a very warped understanding of how easy it was to win in the Majors.

Boone entered into that environment himself in 2018, and you can't say he didn't know the score: His predecessor, Joe Girardi, had been let go following a stirring and unexpected run to the ALCS the year prior. The mandate was clear: Win titles, or else. More than a half-decade later, New York still hasn't added anything to the trophy case, while Boone continues to come under fire for some of his in-game management decisions.

In reality, Torre was far from perfect as a manager; just ask anyone who lived through the middle of the 2000s and his increasing reliance on throwing the arm off one reliever in particular each year. (Pour one out for Scott Proctor.) He was stubborn, and he was prone to lapses, just like Boone can be. The difference is that he delivered one of the most successful stretches in franchise history, and so all of the warts have a tendency to fade to the background.

So, in a few weeks in Atlanta, Boone will share a dugout with a manager he can't possibly hope to live to. The only thing he can do is win.