Bob Boone intimidates people, says his wife, Sue. But he also has a quiet strength. (Jeff Swinger photos) | ZOOM |

        The 1974 season was over, and 27-year-old Bob Boone was thinking of trading in his catcher's mask for a surgical mask.

        Salaries had yet to skyrocket, catchers were among the worst-paid players of the day, and three seasons in the major leagues had him earning all of $30,000 that year. It wasn't bad money for his day, but Boone had a family to raise. Why not reroute back to medical school?

        Never one to define himself by baseball alone, this son of a major- leaguer had entered Stanford University with medicine in mind. His interest developed as a kid, when he would accompany his uncle, Dr. George Brown, on morning rounds.

        “I always enjoyed the physical stuff, the fitness part,” he says. “I enjoyed all the gooey stuff.”

        In fact, if it hadn't been for one future Reds manager, Boone might not be entering 2001 as the current version. Cincinnati first baseman Pete Rose had received a $100,000 salary after the 1974 season, signaling that power hitters and pitching aces weren't alone in attracting lucrative wages. Also, pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally had tested the reserve clause, which tied players to their clubs for life, hastening the onset of free agency and rising salaries.

        Sensing he could earn a comfortable living, Boone kept playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, and then the California Angels. He made All-Star teams, contributed to a World Championship and set records for longevity.

        He also learned that, through baseball, he still could answer a call often associated with medicine.

        “The idea,” he said, “of helping people.”

        He relished the role of advising players — as a catcher, coach or manager. After all, he had dabbled as a substitute teacher during his minor-league days.

        “When you can help a kid with a concept, I always enjoyed that,” Boone said. “It's the same as working with hitters or pitchers. When they start getting something and they see it, you open their eyes and you know they understand. To me, there's great satisfaction with that.”

With Reds, a fresh start

        Bob Boone's first season as Reds manager is fast approaching. Pitchers and catchers begin reporting to spring training Feb. 15.

        Boone will mingle with fans today and Saturday at the annual RedsFest at Albert B. Sabin Cincinnati Convention Center.

        He looks forward to his new challenge, to his new chance to run a team.

Boone relaxes with his dog, Zeke, at his home in Villa Park, Calif. | ZOOM |

        “It's not an obsession. It never has been,” Boone said. “It's something I love to do and I'm best at. I think you always try to do what you're best at, what you're meant to be.”

        But the game does have its drawbacks. Boone would love to attend events that the baseball season keeps him from — the Kentucky Derby, the Indianapolis 500 and the NCAA men's basketball Final Four.

        “There are a lot of things I have backtracked on the agenda that I want to do while I'm young enough,” said Boone, now 53.

        NCAA basketball once had even greater appeal for Boone. As a star forward at San Diego's Crawford High School, Boone received a combination baseball-basketball scholarship to attend Stanford. Quickly realizing he would have been buried on the freshman team's bench, he asked head basketball coach Howie Dallmar if he would release him from his basketball obligation.

        “He said, "Gladly,'” Boone jokingly recalled.

        To put his aborted basketball career in perspective, Boone noted that UCLA's Lew Alcindor, who rose to NBA prominence as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, entered college at the same time: “After I saw him, I said, "What was I even thinking about?'”

        But his decision to choose baseball over basketball and medicine did not preclude him from finding variety in his life.

        Boone served as National League player representative in the late 1970s and early '80s, when baseball's labor wars were volatile.

        “I did it for so long, I could have (presented) both arguments on any given day,” he said.

        His preoccupation with union matters stemmed as much from his natural curiosity as his passion for the players' cause.

        “I believe when you go into whatever you go into, you give everything you've got,” Boone said. “You have to start learning about it, and the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know, and it gets deeper and deeper. To me, there's joy in that. With the Players Association stuff, I'd sit in those meetings in New York and see how the process worked, and it was really interesting, because there were really intelligent people on both sides. It kind of sucks you in.”

        Said ex-pitcher Dickie Noles, who played with Boone for the 1980 World Series-winning Philadelphia Phillies, “He always told us not only what was going on, but he'd also break it down for us. I couldn't believe how good I had it. When I went to other ballclubs, it seemed like I never found that kind of person.”

        That kind of person tends to stand out in baseball.

This catcher made history

        Boone is part of a family that stands out in baseball history. As the son of infielder Ray Boone and the father of Seattle second baseman Bret and Reds third baseman Aaron — and Detroit minor-league infielder Matt — Boone is the linchpin in the majors' first three-generation family. His career spanned 19 seasons, an unusually long tenure for any major-leaguer, but especially for a catcher, the game's most grueling position.

        A seven-time Gold Glove Award winner for fielding excellence and a four-time All-Star, he set the record for games caught (2,225, later broken by Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk) and still holds the mark for seasons catching at least 100 games (15).

Boone takes a call in combined home officeand weight training room. | ZOOM |

        Inspired by Philadelphia training guru Gus Hoefling shortly after reaching the majors, Boone punished himself with year-round workouts through most of his career, contributing to his longevity.

        “That's where I really learned about myself, I think — what you could do, how you could push and that there's always something left,” he said. As a result, he said, “I never thought of catcher as a harder position than shortstop.”

        Boone's tenacity profoundly affected Gene Mauch, who managed him in California. Driven by a sense of obligation, Mauch came out of retirement in 1995 to serve as a bench coach under Boone, who had received his first major-league managerial job in Kansas City.

        “I physically abused him so terribly when he caught for me,” said Mauch, who used Mr. Boone in a whopping 141 games a year in their four full seasons together (1982, 1985-87). “He knew how much I needed him.”

        Said Dallas Green, who managed Boone in Philadelphia: “He ran a pitching staff as well as any catcher I've been around. What he did with the pitching staff almost demanded that they did things they didn't think they could do. That's a trait few catchers bring to the party.”

A knack for people, games

        At 6 feet 2 and still barrel-chested, Boone continues to cut an imposing figure.

        “He has a presence about him. To a lot of people, it's very intimidating,” said Sue Boone, his wife of 33 years. “Once you get to know him, I don't think you feel that intimidation at all. I think it's because he has a quiet strength about him. He doesn't say a lot, but when he does, it seems like everybody listens.”

        “He's going to get you to do what he wants you to do, but he's going to make you think it's your idea,” said Mark Marquess, the Stanford baseball coach who was Boone's college teammate there. “The great leaders have the ability to do that. Bob was always able to do that, and you never felt he was trying to dominate you.”

        Said son Aaron, “I think his biggest goal when working with or coaching somebody is to find the positive.

        “The biggest thing that drives him crazy is when people say, "This guy can't do this or that.' He'll say, "Well, let's work and accentuate some of this guy's abilities and talents.'”

BOONE FILE

• Birthdate: Nov. 19, 1947, in San Diego   • High School: Crawford (San Diego)   • College: Stanford (bachelor of arts degree, psychology, 1969)   • Family: Married, wife Sue; three sons, Bret (April 6, 1969), Aaron (March 9, 1973) and Matthew (July 18, 1979)   • Major-league playing career: Philadelphia, 1972-81; California, 1982-88; Kansas City, 1989-90.   • Career notes: Holds major-league record for most years by a catcher, 100 or more games caught (15) ... Set major-league record with 2,225 games caught (broken by Carlton Fisk) ... Gold Glove Award winner, 1978-79, 1982, 1986-89 ... NL All-Star, 1976, 78-79; AL All-Star, 1983.   • Managerial/coaching career: Manager, Tacoma (Oakland, AAA), 1992-93; coach, Cincinnati, 1994; manager, Kansas City, 1995-97; special assistant to general manager, Cincinnati, 1997-2000; manager, Cincinnati (promoted Nov. 3).   • Distinction: The Boones became baseball's first three-generation family when Bret broke into the majors in 1992. Ray Boone, Bob's father, was an infielder from 1948-60.

        Boone's desire to manage developed naturally through his record-setting career. “Really, my love for the game kept growing,” he said. “I've always been a games player — crossword puzzles, cards, board games — and I always felt that as a catcher I was managing the game anyway. The manager didn't know it, but I was, in my mind. People would say it was second-guessing, but it wasn't. It was first-guessing.”

        The Royals gave Boone his first major-league managerial opportunity, but it was a struggle. He used more lineups than any other manager in 1995 (127) and 1996 (152). He employed the stolen base, sacrifice bunt and hit-and-run to excess.

        Though Boone absorbed heavy criticism for overmanaging, he said he needed to maintain this “off-the-board aggression” to compensate for his roster, which was universally acknowledged to be short on talent and experience.

        The Royals fired Boone during the 1997 All-Star break, after he had posted a 181-206 record. Critics, including those within the Royals organization, perceived him as stubborn.

        Herk Robinson, then Kansas City's general manager, said when the Reds named Boone manager, “Bob will do it his way, and he won't be easily influenced from the outside. That will be a big positive or negative.”

        A Reds bench coach in 1994, Boone rejoined the organization as a senior adviser in November 1997. He immersed himself in a different phase of the game by evaluating and scouting players for general manager Jim Bowden.

        “I've seen how the whole ball of wax works now. Hopefully, that will make me a better manager,” Boone said. “I enjoyed what I was doing, and I probably needed the break.”

        But he retained his desire to manage, interviewing for openings with Anaheim in 1999 and Philadelphia this off-season before he filled the vacancy with the Reds Nov. 3.

        Unfortunately for Boone, public enthusiasm over the hiring was muted because of the Reds' awkward search process during which Lou Piniella, Willie Randolph and Ron Oester were courted at well below market value.

        “It's not about the circumstances of how I got here,” said Boone. “It's the circumstances you take from here.”

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