The new manager of the Yankees has a charming little parlor trick that just might help in the dugout. Show Aaron Boone almost any baseball card, and he can tell you where the photo was taken, simply from the background details. By extension — and more important — he knows precisely what the player is doing, too.
“He has a photographic memory of details, of physicality, of mechanics,” said Jim Bowden, who drafted Boone as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. “It’s a really special trait. If something’s off, even a little bit, he’ll pick up on it immediately because his brain sees stuff that most brains don’t.