The video is grainy, but Dave Roberts’ thin mustache and Aaron Boone’s peach fuzz are discernible. The year was 1992 and the future managers of the Dodgers and New York Yankees were 19-year-old freshmen immersed in a rousing chapter of Los Angeles’ prominent college rivalry.
Now 52, Roberts and Boone will lead Major League titans in the World Series beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium. Since college, they ascended on parallel paths, enjoying solid professional playing careers before becoming fixtures on the top step of the dugouts of the most storied franchises in baseball.
That’s the way it’s supposed to turn out for alums of a city’s two most prestigious universities, right?