Yankees: Details of Aaron Boone’s surgery are scarier than you thought

Manager Aaron Boone #17 of the New York Yankees exchanges words with umpire John Tumpane #74 after he is ejected from the game during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Manager Aaron Boone #17 of the New York Yankees exchanges words with umpire John Tumpane #74 after he is ejected from the game during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Yankee Stadium on September 25, 2020 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

This certainly isn’t breaking news, but the emergency medical procedure Yankees manager Aaron Boone underwent this week was deadly serious, and was rightly treated with the utmost caution.

Boone seems to be bouncing back stunningly quickly, and will have to be held away from the ballpark by force so he doesn’t leap ahead of his rehab timeline.

That’s all for the best, for sure.

It also seems, though, that this tale could’ve taken a darker turn if Boone’s condition had not been pinpointed and caught in the nick of time.

Boone’s Zoom session began on Friday by assuring the gathered writers that he was as healthy as could be after being fitted with a pacemaker.

But the details of his illness and resulting symptoms were more dire than even we expected.

Here are the details of Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s heart surgery.

Though Boone and his “buddy” are persevering, we remain concerned for his health rather than preoccupied with how long his absence might be.

After all, this isn’t the 47-year-old manager’s first heart procedure; he also underwent open heart surgery in 2009, which took place at the tail end of his playing career.

This time, Boone battled light-headedness and shortness of breath before first checking into the hospital. When he arrived, they found his heart rate had dipped all the way down to the 30s, an exceedingly dangerous and critical place for anyone to be, let alone a big-league manager in his supposed prime.

The possibility of congestive failure and a loss of oxygen to the brain rise precipitously at this point.

That is … truly frightening. We’re really not over-selling it here.

The recent history of managers overcoming heart issues mid-season to continue leading their title-caliber team errs in Boone’s favor; Nationals skipper Dave Martinez battled a midseason ailment to win Game 7 in Houston in 2019, scaring us all along the way by getting into some aorta-busting mid-game arguments.

Boone should safely take as much time away from the team as he needs, though, as we’re confident he can handle his business in the interim. It’s October that matters.