Bob Boone speaks at a news conference Friday with GM Jim Bowden, right. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        The Reds' bucks, or lack of them, stopped with Bob Boone, who signed a two-year contract Friday to become the team's manager.

        Accepting contractual terms that other candidates spurned didn't bother Boone. The opportunity to run a major-league club, he said, was enough.

        “This job is not about money for me and never has been,” said Boone, a four-time All-Star catcher during his 19-year playing career. “I don't do anything in this game for money. I never did. ... I would have signed a one-day contract. I would have signed a handshake deal.”

        Boone won't receive much more than that, by contemporary standards. He'll receive $300,000 next season and $350,000 in 2002, with a club option for 2003 at $425,000. That makes him the lowest-paid manager in the majors throughout the life of the contract.

        “It's more than I'm making now,” said Boone, a special assistant to Reds general manager Jim Bowden since November 1997.

        Though the news conference to introduce Boone as this historic franchise's 56th manager should have focused upon him, the final confusing stages of the team's selection process prompted just as much curiosity.

        Few definitive answers were available. Reds general manager Jim Bowden had a standard response to any uncomfortable question: “I don't think it does anyone any good to talk about the process except for the end result.” John Allen, the team's chief operating officer, watched the news conference from the side of the room and dashed out a door as the question-and-answer period ended without commenting. Chief executive officer Carl Lindner did not attend.

        Many Cincinnati fans went to bed Thursday night anticipating that Ron Oester, the team's third-base coach, would be promoted to manager. So did Oester, who declined the same offer that Boone later took, but thought he made it clear he intended to make a counter-proposal, which he thought the team was considering. Further, Oester said Bowden encouraged him not to take the Reds' initial offer.

        Allen, who handles contract negotiations, interpreted Oester's refusal as final and instructed Bowden to continue evaluating other candidates.

        “I'm a man of my word,” Oester said. “I can live with what happened. I talked to Jim and I told him if he can live with what he did — screwed up my life and my family — then fine.”

        New York Yankees third-base coach Willie Randolph, another finalist for the vacancy that was created when Jack McKeon was fired Oct. 2, left without actually being offered that two-year deal. Randolph considered the financial terms — which struggled to match the World Series shares he has received with the Yankees — and deemed them unacceptable.

        This was after Seattle manager Lou Piniella, Cincinnati's No. 1 choice, never even received an offer from the Reds and agreed to a contract extension with the Mariners on Tuesday. Piniella was seeking more than $2 million per year.

        “We did the best we could do with the dollars available,” Bowden told WLW-AM. “It's kind of unfortunate. You hope to be able to get the best manager. You hope the dollars are there, but you do the best you can.”

        That left Boone, who arrived in Cincinnati on Wednesday for his second round of interviews. He was advised to remain in town through Thursday and was told by Bowden to report to his office Friday morning at 8:30.

        If it took a while to nail down a manager, Reds captain Barry Larkin said he's pleased with the one they finally got.

        “He'll be good,” said Larkin, the team's shortstop. “He's good at dealing with players and communicating. He knows what players go through because he's been there.”

        Boone, 52, has “been there” since infancy. His father, Ray, played in the majors from 1948-60. Boone observed that he attended his first World Series when he was nine months old and his father was finishing his rookie season in '48.

        None of the Reds knows Boone better than third baseman Aaron Boone, one of the new manager's three sons who play baseball professionally. Bret, now a free agent, is a former Reds second baseman and Matthew, the youngest Boone offspring, plays in the Detroit Tigers organization.

        “I think he's good at dealing with different people and different personalities,” said Aaron Boone, the sixth son to be managed by his father.

        Said Boone, “Our relationship will be player-manager. It may seem like it's weird, but it'll be easy to do.”

        Handling superstar players is a key responsibility for any manager. On the Reds, that means Larkin and center fielder Ken Griffey Jr. Boone insisted he can co-exist with any player.

        “I don't think you "handle' anybody,” Boone said. “I was known as a catcher who was a great handler of pitchers. I never "handled' one pitcher. I had a relationship with pitchers and got them to do what was best for us and therefore was best for them ... Griffey and Larkin should be the least of my problems.”

        Boone also was asked about interacting with Bowden, whom players occasionally have sought to address certain issues after bypassing the manager.

        “I have a lot of respect for Jim,” Boone said. “I think he has one of the most creative minds in baseball. I'm excited to work for him, because I know how I work and how he works, and it has the makings of a tremendous team. It'll certainly be creative, I know that.”

        Said Bowden, “We hired a very quality person that has a lot of experience in the game as a player, coach and manager. He knows our personnel; he knows our coaching staff; he knows our players; he has a good working relationship with the front office. He's a strong leader in the clubhouse. There's no question he's going to run this team.”

        The Reds believe Boone's experience has helped prepare him for this task. After serving as Cincinnati's bench coach in 1994, he managed the Kansas City Royals for 2 1/4 seasons, compiling a 181-206 record before being replaced midway through the 1997 season. Boone's Royals teams consisted mostly of younger players, forcing him to tinker with his lineups.

        Though critics assailed Boone for his active style, he said he grew from the experience: “The day I got fired, I believe I was a better manager than the day I got hired. I don't think you ever stop learning in this game.”

        What Boone ultimately learned was that he wanted the type of opportunity that the Reds gave him.

        “I found I loved managing more than I loved catching, and I did that for a long time,” he said.

        Enquirer reporter John Fay contributed.