Yankees: Aaron Boone forgiving AJ Hinch doesn’t mean you have to

Though there will always be an intrinsic connection to the uniform, New York Yankees fans exist on an entirely different plane from New York Yankees employees, players and field generals.

Anything that makes you uncomfortable as a fan? It’s entirely valid, up to and including refusing to tolerate Domingo German and Aroldis Chapman on the roster.

Would you like to vociferously root against the Astros and affix an asterisk every time they’re in town for the next several decades? I’m with you, in this boat.

But the team’s current manager doesn’t have to care anymore, for a multitude of reasons.

Yankees skipper Aaron Boone — who, let’s also add, was concerned about a lot more serious things than a baseball scandal this week — was spotted speaking to Hinch for a number of minutes prior to the team’s showdown with the Tigers Tuesday.

Following a handshake, the two old friends appeared to reconcile — which should have no bearing on how you feel about Hinch, Houston, Alex Cora, and the whole lot of ’em.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone reunited with AJ Hinch.

The writer of this article has not forgiven Hinch for his indiscretions. Nor has he chosen to give the Astros’ 25-man roster a chance at redemption after they read prepared statements off tiny scraps of paper pre-pandemic.

But those in the baseball fraternity have ties that bind. Boone and Hinch have both been in foxholes — together and separately — for decades. It’s both fun and worthwhile to snap-judge all participants in Houston’s scandalous envelope-pushing for fans, but when you know the man in charge, time heals all wounds.

These two go way back, and there was an extended grace period before Boone was willing to open up to his ex-teammate.

It didn’t happen overnight. It took time apart, reflective thought, and a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic. Hinch received more punishment than any of the players who enacted Cora and Carlos Beltran’s scheme, and was forced to change towns, join a rebuild instead of a behemoth, and sit on the sidelines as his old team went to Game 7 of the ALCS.

Was that enough? Not for all of us. Not for me. But Boone’s take on the matter shouldn’t change your rooting interest.

Cora? Well, that’s a different story entirely. After he was allowed to waltz back to his old perch without so much as a scratch, a single smile from Boone in his direction will leave my blood boiling.

But that, frankly, sounds like a “me” problem, too.

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