Aaron Boone, a man who was hours away from surgery to have a pacemaker inserted, still participated in the Yankees’ daily Zoom meeting with his coaching staff Wednesday morning. From Boone’s hospital bed in Tampa, he discussed his situation and reassured his colleagues that he was going to be fine. And then the Yankees manager videotaped an upbeat message for his players, too.

As the 47-year old Boone received the pacemaker, the focus was on his health, his healing and making sure that he would no longer be bothered by the shortness of breath and lightheadedness that had hampered him across the last six to eight weeks. On this day in Yankeeland, baseball was secondary. All that mattered to the Yankees was seeing the respected Boone return as a healthier version of himself.

Still, even as Boone was facing this medical procedure, it was revealing that he never really stopped managing. It would have been perfectly understandable if Boone, who had an eight-hour open heart surgery nine years ago, skipped the Zoom meeting and waited until he returned to address his players. But Boone, displaying his passion for the job and his passion for his peers, was insistent about letting everyone know that he expected to be fine.

“Just the way he communicated with me put me at ease,” said general manager Brian Cashman. “My takeaway was, ‘If he’s really in a good place, then I’m in a good place because all I care about is him. All we care about is him.'”

Shortly before the Yankees began their game with the Toronto Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field on Wednesday night, they announced that Boone’s pacemaker surgery “went as expected.” Before the surgery, Boone, in a press release, had said, “My faith is strong, and my spirits are high.” Boone said doctors had told him the surgery would allow him to “resume all of my usual professional and personal activities and afford me a long-term health prognosis without having to change anything about my way of life.” The manager estimated that he would return to work “in the next several days.”

A few days ago, Boone told Cashman about the various symptoms he had been experiencing, about the tests he was undergoing and about the need for him to have pacemaker surgery. On Tuesday night, Boone told Cashman that the surgery had been scheduled for Wednesday. But, even though Boone was hospitalized, he still showed up for work Wednesday, via Zoom. Boone’s actions calmed many, including Carlos Mendoza, the bench coach who is filling in for the manager.

“After talking to him this morning, at first, when I was talking to him, I was like, ‘Wow,” Mendoza said. “But then, as the conversation progressed, and listening to him and then, obviously, seeing his face, he was smiling in that meeting.”

Yes, Boone was actually smiling and joking around with the coaches.

“It goes back to the type of person and the type of leader he is,” Mendoza said.

In the press release, Boone implored anyone who is dealing with heart issues to remain diligent about monitoring themselves. That is what Boone has done. In March of 2009, Boone was in Spring Training with the Houston Astros when he learned he would need to undergo surgery to replace a bicuspid aortic vale. The congenital condition had been discovered when Boone was a freshman at U.S.C. and he always knew it would need to be corrected. Still, the looming surgery was traumatic.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Boone wrote letters to his wife, his mother, his father and his brother, letters a friend kept for Boone and letters his family members should read in case the surgery was unsuccessful. Thankfully, those letters never needed to be delivered. Boone returned to the Astros in September and played 10 games before retiring.

After the Yankees announced that Boone would be getting a pacemaker, I sent him a text with a simple message of three praying hand emojis. I didn’t expect him to respond. I just wanted Boone, who is as likable as anyone in Major League Baseball, to know he was in my prayers.

Within a few minutes, Boone texted, “Thanks, Jack!” The exclamation point was noticeable to me. It was a sign of a manager who was still managing, a sign of a man who was still reassuring everyone else that he was going to be fine.