NEW YORK - The Boones will be in the opposite game for the first time in two decades when the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers are in the three-game series at Yankee Stadium this week.

Back in 2005, Bret Boone and younger brother Aaron (whose father and grandfather were major leaguers) were in their 30s and ended up as third-generation players in their careers. This time, Aaron is in his eighth season, with Yankees manager and Bret being the third week for the Rangers.

To celebrate the unlikely occasion, they have dinner together after not meeting on Monday since Christmas was spent in San Diego.

"Well, that's new to me," Brett said. "He actually paid the bill last night."

Bret, 56, never served as a major league coaching staff, and the Wanderer accidentally called him to evaluate his interest in helping their anemia offense. He quickly accepted the job and on May 5, the club fired offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker as coach on May 5.

At the time, less than two years later, the Rangers and Ecker won the World Series with less than two years, ranking last in the American League. The sample is small, but since May 6, the Rangers have been ranked seventh in the league on Tuesday, with Boone ranking on the first day of work.

"He's really fit," said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy. "Brett brought some new ideals, another eye and ear. I think he did a really good job with knowing these guys, having a relationship, and he's happy to have people around him."

When they grew up, the two brothers did not play together in any formal identities because they were four years apart. But there are all kinds of battles at home.

"We used to be boxes when we were kids, and I used to wear headwear, and he didn't." "So, picture, I'm about 6 years old, maybe 10 years old. I popped him out at one time.

"I started crying a little bit. He was like, 'No, you can't cry. We're going to have trouble.' A few years later, I was thinking, "Will we have trouble?"

The Boones last time they fought against each other at the Major League Baseball level. Aaron started at Cleveland’s third base. His solo home run against Jamie Moyer in Cleveland's only run was 3-1.

Aaron, 52, played until the 2009 season. Eight years later, he was hired as Yankees manager, and he went on to lead the team into the playoffs six times, including a World Series appearance last October. Aaron began to tie for 15th with a .584 career win rate on Tuesday.

"It's weird for me," Brett said. "He's always Brett's younger brother. Then suddenly he got a job with Yankee and people said, 'You're Aaron's brother.' I'm proud of what he did."

The two brothers swapped their respective team rosters in home runs ahead of Tuesday’s game. They shared laughter with the referee and took photos together. That's everything.

"I'm sure I'll peek over there sometime in the game and see what he's doing," Aaron said.