Yankees' Aaron Boone, Jomboy Media on why their weekly spots work

TAMPA, Fla. — Aaron Boone called it “a little outside the box” when he started a weekly spot on the “Talkin’ Yanks” podcast in 2023 instead of continuing on traditional radio.

Now Boone’s Tuesday appearances with Jomboy Media are squarely within the box. Podcasting is just how it’s done now.

Boone during the offseason signed up for a fourth season being interviewed — some would say grilled — by hosts and Yankees fans Jimmy O’Brien and Jake Storiale.

“I've enjoyed it,” Boone told Newsday on Wednesday in his spring training office at Steinbrenner Field. “It's amazing how many people come up to me and ask me about it. Like, ‘Oh, I love the Jomboy stuff.’ I get asked about it or comments about it a lot.”

Boone, who is in his ninth year as Yankees manager, used to do spots on WFAN with various hosts, including Mike Francesa, and on ESPN New York with Michael Kay.

“We're ecstatic to continue the relationship,” O’Brien told Newsday in a phone interview on Thursday. “I think last year we felt like — how should I phrase this? — I think the conversations got to the point that we wanted them to be, and we hoped they would be, and I think maybe it took three years to get there or it took the right season that had a mix of good and bad to kind of hit all angles.”

The vibe for the podcast sitdowns is different because it’s on video and because the hosts are Yankees fans, not talk show hosts who are trying to straddle the line between fan and journalist.

“What I say is at the core, they're really good guys that love our team and love the game,” Boone said. “Sometimes there's times in the years when it gets a little confrontational or whatever. At the core, they're good guys. They're pretty easy to talk to and reason with. Sometimes I say I’ve got to slap them down a little bit. They get a little too expert. They think they're the expert sometimes. But I really like those guys.”

The most famous slapdown came last July when Boone defended his players against the notion that they don’t care enough and don’t give pained-enough answers when the team is struggling. That’s what fans want to hear, the hosts said.

“I don’t care what you want!” Boone roared.

It was an entertaining back-and-forth.

“I think our goal,” O’Brien said, “as much as it pains some people, is we want to just be bantering and talking baseball. So if we can open and close the show and bookend it with kind of pals talking ball, but one of them is the manager of the Yankees, that’s a good place to be.”

The hosts represent Yankees fans, but not the type who just want to yell into the wind and blame Boone for everything. At least it’s hard to do that when the manager is on the same Zoom screen as you week after week.

“It's different than a fan yelling from the stands anonymously,” Boone said. “They’ve got to sit there and face-to-face ask the question. So I do think that they are absolutely representing and getting some of the heartbeat of the fan base and some of that in questions. It's an opportunity to for me to address that.”

Said O’Brien: “We're not crazy fans. But all fans should be crazy in some way, I always say. It's fanatics, after all.”

Sometimes the conversation can be pleasant (i.e. when the team is doing well). Sometimes it can be tense (when the wheels feel as if they are falling off and the sky is definitely falling in the Bronx).

“It just depends on the week,” Boone said. “We rarely have a boring time of the year, but it can be a boring week where we're winning and not a lot of stuff's happening. There's times, the adverse times, or where you're going through the tough stretch, where it's a little more heavy.”

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.