Well, just after talking about Boonie resurfacing with the Mets and a chance to win the Second Base job, he announced his retirement from the game today.
"Tell me this is April Fool's Day," Bob Boone said, hoping someone had flipped one extra page on his calendar.
"My father's having a tough time with this," Boone said, hours later as he stood outside the stretch limousine that would take him to Palm Beach International Airport and the rest of his life. Father Boone wasn't alone in that regard. At noon, the Mets' could-have-been second baseman had stood at his locker listening to the clubhouse attendants promising to pack and send the final remnants of his 14-year career to Seattle. And as he listened, his eyes glistened. "I'm sick of crying," he said.
Tears were not unexpected. The oldest baseball grandson of the late Ray Boone wasn't ending only his own career, he also was removing a branch from the family tree. And that made it harder on him. "We're a baseball family," is how Bret Boone put it.
So long Boonie, and thanks for the memories.
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