The new manager of the Yankees has a charming little parlor trick that just might help in the dugout. Show Aaron Boone almost any baseball card, and he can tell you where the photo was taken, simply from the background details. By extension — and more important — he knows precisely what the player is doing, too.

“He has a photographic memory of details, of physicality, of mechanics,” said Jim Bowden, who drafted Boone as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. “It’s a really special trait. If something’s off, even a little bit, he’ll pick up on it immediately because his brain sees stuff that most brains don’t.”

Boone, 44, has not been officially announced as Joe Girardi’s successor with the Yankees. But General Manager Brian Cashman selected Boone from a pool of six candidates, and the managing general partner, Hal Steinbrenner, approved. Boone was an ESPN broadcaster with no coaching or managing experience, but his baseball lineage runs deep.

In 1980, at age 7, he rode in a parade float down Broad Street in Philadelphia, celebrating the Phillies’ World Series title. His father, Bob, was their catcher — an All-Star like his grandfather Ray Boone and his brother Bret. The boys were regulars around Veterans Stadium, and later in Anaheim after Bob joined the California Angels.