Aaron Boone done with playing baseball; now he’ll talk on ESPN

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Aaron Boone announced Tuesday both his retirement from baseball and his new job as baseball analyst with ESPN.

Boone, an infielder with a career .263 batting average, 126 home runs and 555 RBIs, is both the grandson and son of former major leaguers. His brother, Bret Boone, was a three-time All-Star. Aaron’s most famous playing moment came on a playoff-game-winning home run for the New York Yankees over the Red Sox. In 2003, in the bottom of the 11th at Yankee Stadium, after being inserted earlier into the game as a pinch runner, Boone won the game with a walk-off home run. It was Game 7 of the American League Championship Series and sent New York to the World Series against the Florida Marlins.

ESPN had an opening after Peter Gammons left to go to the MLB network after last season.

‘This is a very exciting day for me, one I feel like I’ve been working on here all offseason,’ Boone during a conference call. ‘In a lot of ways, although I’m retiring from the game, I feel like it’s just another step in the game. I went from being drafted to making the big leagues to being an everyday player to being a role player, a bench player. And now to be an analyst -- although I’m taking my uniform off, in a lot of ways, it doesn’t feel like I’m retiring.’

-- Diane Pucin