The Yankees’ Aaron Boone and Dodgers’ Dave Roberts should have the most fun at Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game in Atlanta. Unlike rookies to the MLB Jewel Event, these two managers have been there before and know what to expect.
As the All-Star break approaches, the New York Yankees will be wrapping up a three-game homestand in the Bronx this weekend with the visiting Chicago Cubs. Currently, the Yankees’ skipper is looking for his club to gain ground in the American League East. With four games remaining before the four-day schedule break starts on Monday, the Yankees trail first-place Toronto Blue Jays by 2.5 games.
On the West Coast, the Los Angeles Dodgers will travel to San Francisco on Thursday for a three-game series in Oracle Park with the hometown Giants on Friday. Los Angeles carries a five-game lead over the Giants in the National League West. Roberts, now in his 10th season managing the Dodgers, like Boone, is no stranger to All-Star Game preparations.
The history surrounding both men as managers for the 95th MLB All-Star Game is fascinating, if not preordained. It’s not a mystery that Boone is managing the American League squad and Roberts the National League. Their teams won their league’s pennant in 2024. The MLB rewards the managers of the championship clubs by naming them dugout bosses for the Midsummer Classic the following season.
Their pasts seemed to naturally lead Boone and Roberts to the present, for what awaits them in filling out lineup cards on Tuesday at Truist Park.
A connection to the MLB’s annual July All-Star Game, when the best of the best in each league take the field for one night, can be seen as a rite of passage for Boone. The Yankee manager, on the job since 2018, was selected in 2003 to represent the Cincinnati Reds on the National League roster. That same July, just weeks after appearing in the game at U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, Boone was dealt to the Yankees. Later that fall, in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, in the 11th inning, a pinch-hitting Boone swatted a home run that won the pennant for the Yankees.
Boone’s good fortune as an All-Star player and postseason catalyst, over the years, has been a family affair. Older brother Bret Boone, currently the Texas Rangers’ hitting coach, was selected to appear in three All-Star Games during his 14-year MLB career as an infielder. Of the three All-Star Games Bret Boone was selected to, like his younger brother Aaron, he was part of the 2003 roster. Bret Boone represented the Seattle Mariners at the 2003 All-Star Game in Chicago.
Having two brothers selected for the same All-Star Game, and later one of them having the opportunity to manage in the game, seems beyond fulfilling for one family. But the All-Star lineage runs even deeper in the Boone family. Aaron and Bret’s father, Bob Boone, too, was an All-Star—four times. As an elite catcher in the 1970s and 1980s for the Philadelphia Phillies and California Angels, Bob Boone collected two hits in the four games in which he appeared.
Ray Boone, Bret and Aaron’s grandfather, was an MLB All-Star selection twice. Three generations of All-Stars in the Boone family make them the only ones to be able to lay claim to this honor. Ray Boone, as a Detroit Tiger in 1954 and 1956, was selected to the American League All-Star squad.
As for Roberts, who in March agreed to a four-year contract extension with the Dodgers, he’s readying to skipper the National League All-Stars next week for the fourth time in his career. In two of the seasons, 2020 and 2024, Los Angeles went on to win the World Series. Although not chosen to play during his decade in the MLB with five different clubs, Roberts continues to excel, directing the Dodgers to success from the dugout. His 903–536 managerial record is impressive.
For this year’s All-Star Game, Boone and Roberts will have their own coaching staff in tow, with only a few additions each. Boone has asked Cleveland Guardians’ manager Stephen Vogt to join the Yankees coaches in Atlanta. Vogt is only in his second season as an MLB skipper, and as recently as 2022, was playing with the Athletics. He was selected American League Manager of the Year in 2024.
MLB and Boone also announced that Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre has been invited as an honorary coach for the American League. For three seasons in the 1980s, Torre managed the Braves, and before that, for nine seasons (1960–1968), was a standout player with the Milwaukee Braves. The Braves relocated from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season. Torre also managed four other MLB teams, most notably the Yankees from 1996-2007, when the Bronx Bombers won the World Series four times.
Not to be outdone, Roberts has a couple of familiar names joining him at the All-Star Game. Brian Snitker, now in his 10th season managing the Braves, has been added to the National League coaching staff. Miami Marlins’ rookie skipper Clayton McCullough will also be joining the Dodgers’ coaches on July 15 in Atlanta. Before managing the Marlins, McCullough was Roberts’ first-base coach from 2021–2024.
Baseball fans watching the MLB All-Star Game on TV or listening to the play-by-play on the radio will be hoping for their heroes to create lasting memories when the best of the best of 2025 take the field for one game.
From their respective dugouts, managers Boone and Roberts get to take all the highlights in from the best seats in the stadium. They are veterans of what could be the “best game on dirt” this season.
