DON MATTINGLY

'Donald Arthur Mattingly' (nicknamed "'Donnie Baseball'" and "'The Hit Man') (born April 20, 1961) is a retired first baseman who played for the New York Yankees of the American League from 1982-1995. He is currently Joe Torre's bench coach for the Yankees.
"Donnie Baseball" is one of the most popular Yankees in the team's storied history. Despite not being a member of a World Series winning team, his popularity is comparable to that of Yankee greats like Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. Since returning for the annual Old Timer's Game, Mattingly has consistently received the loudest ovations.
Mattingly grew up in Evansville, Indiana and was one of the nation's top prospects as a high school player at Reitz Memorial High School in 1979, earning a brief write-up in ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine. However, most Major League Baseball teams avoided drafting Mattingly, expecting him to attend college before entering professional baseball. Taking a chance, the New York Yankees drafted Mattingly in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur draft and subsequently signed him.

Contents

Personal

Career

Making the majors

Playing prime

Career decline: 1990-1995

Retirement

Cooperstown consideration

Post-retirement activity

Back with the Yankees

The Curse of Donnie Baseball

Mattingly Baseball

Future with the Yankees

Pop culture

See also

References

External links

Personal

Mattingly married Kim Sexton on September 8, 1979. They have three sons: Taylor, Preston, and Jordon, and currently live on a horse farm in Evansville.
Taylor was drafted in the 42nd round (1262nd overall) of the 2003 MLB draft by the New York Yankees, and played in 24 games for the Gulf Coast Yankees in the rookie league before an injury cut short his season. After sitting out all of 2004 and 2005, Taylor retired from baseball in 2005 after only 58 professional at bats. Of his eldest son, Don mentioned: "He loved the game, not the lifestyle."^[1]
Preston Mattingly was chosen in the first round (31st overall) of the June 2006 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers and is currently rated as a B- prospect in John Sickels 2007 Baseball Prospect Book. Sickels noted, "Position a question but has promising tools and bloodlines."^[2]
During the late 1980s and early 90s, Don Mattingly was owner of a restaurant in Evansville called "Mattingly's 23," after the uniform number he wore for most of his career. During his first two years (1982-1983), he wore uniform number 46.

Career

Making the majors

The sweet-swinging lefty immediately proved his worth to the Yankees franchise. In the minors, Mattingly batted .349 in 1979, .358 in 1980, and .316 in 1981. He was hitting .315 for Triple-A Columbus when he made it to the majors late in the 1982 season.
Mattingly spent his official rookie season of 1983 as a part-time first baseman and outfielder, waiting for a full-time spot in the lineup to open up. He played well, hitting .283 in 279 at-bats, but with little power.
Slugger Steve Balboni was the favored organizational prospect at first base, but it became apparent in 1982-83 that Balboni was too prone to striking out and that his ranging right-handed swing was less than ideal for Yankee Stadium. Mattingly quickly surpassed Balboni on the team's depth chart, and Balboni was traded to the Kansas City Royals in 1984.
Mattingly became the Yankees' full-time first baseman and an MVP candidate. He hit .343 and beat out teammate Dave Winfield in a close race for the American League batting title with a 4-for-5 game on the last day of the season. Mattingly also led the league with 207 hits. He developed a power stroke, slugging a league-leading 44 doubles to go with 23 home runs. He was 2nd in the league in slugging percentage (.537) and at bats per strikeout (18.3), 4th in total bases (.324), 5th in RBIs (110), 6th in sacifice flies (9), and 10th in on base percentge (.381). He also batted .400 with runners in scoring position.

Playing prime

Mattingly followed up his breakout season with a spectacular 1985, winning the MVP award in the American League. He batted .324 (3rd in the league) with 35 home runs (4th), 48 doubles (1st), and 145 RBI (1st), then the most RBIs in a season by a left-handed major league batter since Ted Williams hit 159 in 1949. His 21-RBI lead in the category was the most in the American League since Al Rosen's RBI title of 1953. He led the league in sacrifice flies (15), total bases (370), and extra base hits (86), and was 2nd in the AL in hits (211) and slugging percentage (.567), 3rd in intentional walks (13) and at bats per strikeout (13.9), 6th in runs (107), and 9th in at bats per home run (18.6). He batted .354 with 2 out and runners in scoring position.
Mattingly was also recognized in 1985 for his defense, winning his first of nine Gold Glove Awards. He was considered such an asset defensively that Yankees management allowed him to play games at second base and third base early in his career, even though he was a left-handed thrower. Mattingly appeared as a left-handed throwing second baseman for one-third of one inning, during the resumption of the George Brett "Pine Tar Incident" game in 1983. He also played three games as a left-handed throwing third baseman during a five-game series against the Seattle Mariners in 1986.
Mattingly did just as well in 1986, leading the league with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 388 total bases, and a .573 slugging percentage. He also batted .352 (2nd in the league), hit 31 home runs (6th) and drove in 113 runs (3rd). However, he was easily beaten in the American League MVP voting by pitcher Roger Clemens, who also won the Cy Young Award unanimously that year.
In 1987, Mattingly tied Dale Long's major league record by hitting home runs in eight consecutive games (record later tied again by Ken Griffey, Jr. of Seattle in 1993), as well getting an extra base hit in 10 consecutive games. He had a record 10 home runs during his streak (Long & Griffey had 8). Also that season, he set a major league record by hitting six grand slam home runs in a season, a record matched by Travis Hafner during the 2006 season. Mattingly's grand-slams in 1987 were the only six of his career.
In June 1987, Mattingly injured his back during some clubhouse horseplay with pitcher Bob Shirley. Nevertheless, he finished with a .327 batting average, 30 home runs, and 115 RBIs, his fourth straight year with at least 110 RBIs. Between 1985 and 1987, Mattingly hit 96 home runs with just 114 strikeouts.
Though Mattingly would recover, recurrent back woes would curtail his statistics, and eventually, his career.
1988 was a decidedly off year for Mattingly, who had just 18 home runs and 88 RBI. He rebounded in 1989 to 113 RBI, but his average dipped to .303.

Career decline: 1990-1995

Mattingly's back problems flared up anew in 1990; after struggling with the bat, he had to go on the disabled list in July, only returning late in the season for an ineffective finish. His stat line-- a .256 average, 5 home runs and 42 RBI in almost 400 at-bats-- came as a shock. Mattingly underwent extensive therapy in the offseason, but his hitting ability never returned. Though he averaged .290 over his final five seasons, he became more of a slap hitter, hitting just 53 home runs over that timeframe. Mattingly's defense remained stellar, but he was not always physically able to play.
Unluckily, Mattingly made his major league debut in 1982, the year after the Yankees lost the World Series. The team did not reach the postseason in any of Mattingly's first 13 years. In 1995, Mattingly finally reached the playoffs when the Yankees won the AL wild card on the next-to-last day of the season. Their opponents were the Seattle Mariners.
In the only postseason series of his career, Mattingly batted .417 with 6 RBI and a memorable go-ahead home run in Game Two, his final game at Yankee Stadium. In the final game of the series (and of his career), Mattingly again broke a tie with a two-run double. But the New York bullpen faltered and Seattle won in the 11th inning of the decisive Game Five.

Retirement

Mattingly finished his career with 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI, and a .307 lifetime average. He had particular success against Scott McGregor, batting .500 against him with a .938 slugging percentage in 32 at bats. He is commonly cited as the best Yankee player to have never played in a World Series. His career had bad timing, as the Yankees lost the World Series the year before he broke into the big leagues and they ended up winning the World Series in the first year of Mattingly's retirement. Ironically, this World Series drought (1982-1995) was the longest in Yankees history since the Babe Ruth era.
The Yankees retired Mattingly's number 23 and dedicated his plaque for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on August 31, 1997. The plaque calls him ''"A humble man of grace and dignity, a captain who led by example, proud of the pinstripe tradition and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, a Yankee forever."''

Cooperstown consideration

As to Mattingly's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, detractors point to his relatively short career and that all of his offensive credentials were compacted into five quality seasons between 1984 and 1989. Mattingly has never been named on more than 28% of ballots; in 2006 he was down to 12% of the ballots. (For election, a player must be listed by 75% of the voters.) Mattingly's supporters for HOF induction point to his offensive numbers and his historically exceptional Gold Glove defensive skills are comparable with his contemporary Kirby Puckett, who was a first ballot Hall-of-Famer.^[3] However, Puckett's career was far more consistent than Mattingly's, his postseason performances (including World Series championships in 1987 and 1991) adding to his credentials. Mattingly's career was also similar to that of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, both of whom were MVPs and nine-time Gold Glove winners. However, Sandberg's numbers compared more favorably against his position, second base. First basemen with similar career offensive numbers to Mattingly, such as Will Clark and Cecil Cooper, have generated little Hall of Fame interest. Interestingly, it was Puckett who dubbed Mattingly "Donnie Baseball."^[4]

Career Hitting^[5]

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1,785	7,003	2,153	442	20	222	1,007	1,099	14	588	444	.307	.358	.471	.829

Post-retirement activity

Back with the Yankees

After retiring as a player, Mattingly spent seven seasons as a special instructor during Yankees' spring training in Tampa, Florida from 1997-2003.
Following the 2003 season, the Yankees named Mattingly the hitting coach. He spent three seasons in that role, receiving much praise from the Yankees organization and his players. Under Mattingly the Yankees set an all-time franchise record 242 home runs in 2004.
On October 26, 2006, Mattingly was promoted to being Joe Torre's bench coach, replacing Lee Mazzilli.

The Curse of Donnie Baseball

The New York Yankees won the American League pennant in 1981. In 1982, the team called up Don Mattingly from the minor leagues. The Yanks failed to win a pennant for his entire career. His last season as an active player was 1995. The Yankees won the World Series in 1996. Despite such achievements as the American League's batting title in 1984, its Most Valuable Player Award in 1985, and a team record for most hits in a season in 1986, with 238, Mattingly never appeared on a pennant-winning team.
The Yankees won the World Series in 1996, the first year Mattingly wasn't in uniform since they won the pennant without him in 1981. In 1997, the Yankees retired Mattingly's uniform number 23 and dedicated a plaque in his honor that would rest in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium. That season, the Yankees finished second in the American League Eastern Division to the Orioles, and it remains the last season (through 2006) in which the Yankees did not win the division title. The next season, 1998, the Yankees began a run of five American League pennants in six seasons, ending with the 2003 World Series. Despite losing in the World Series, the Yankees dramatically won the AL pennant in 2003 in an extra inning Game 7 against the Boston Red Sox.
In 2004, Mattingly was hired as the team's hitting instructor. The Yankees were one game away from winning the American League pennant, when they had a historic meltdown, being the first team in Major League history to lose a 7-game series after being up three games to none to the Boston Red Sox, thus setting the stage for the Sox to end the Curse of the Bambino against St. Louis in the World Series. In the next season on the job, the Yankees again failed to win the pennant despite winning their division and having the highest payroll in baseball.
This has led to the suggestion that the Yankees will never win a pennant as long as Mattingly is in uniform. Between their first pennant in 1921 and 1981, and again from 1996 to 2003, a total of 69 seasons, the Yankees won 39 American League pennants, or 56 percent of the available pennants. In the 16 seasons in which Mattingly has been in a Yankee uniform (1982 to 1995 and 2004 to 2006), the Yankees have never won. Unless, of course, you count in the 2000 season, when Mattingly returned to Yankee Stadium to play in his first Old Timer's day.
Despite this supposed curse, Mattingly remains immensely popular among Yankee fans for standing as the man who upheld the Yankee legacy through a dark period in team history in terms of competitiveness and front-office upheaval. Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay has said, "Don Mattingly may be the most popular athlete in New York City history."

Mattingly Baseball

In 2005, Don launched his new baseball and softball equipment company, Mattingly Baseball. The company is based on the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. After watching his kids and their friends struggle with maintaining the proper hitting grip, Don, along with co-inventor Jim Wells, created the V-Grip as a way to ensure the proper alignment of the hands and to keep the bat out in the hitter's fingertips. A third founder, Skip Shaw, was brought in to grow the company into a meaningful player in the baseball and softball equipment marketplace. The V-Grip bats have been approved for game play by all of the major leagues and associations including Little League Baseball, Babe Ruth including Ripken Baseball, Pony League, Dixie Youth, AABC, ASA, USSSA, National Federation of High Schools and the NCAA.

Future with the Yankees

It is rumored that Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has already picked Mattingly as his choice to replace current manager Joe Torre, whose contract expires after the 2007 season. In fact, Michael Kay, the lead play-by-play man for the YES Network says:

"From everything that I have heard the Yankees are absolutely blown away by how great Don Mattingly has been as the hitting coach, his work ethic and his level of preparedness. I think when Joe Torre leaves, the next manager will be Don Mattingly."^[6]

Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has praised Mattingly as someone who "understands what it is to be a Yankee" and said he "could possibly" become the Yankees' manager.[1]

Pop culture

Mattingly appeared in a baseball-themed episode of ''The Simpsons'', entitled '''Homer at the Bat'''. In the episode, team owner Mr. Burns repeatedly orders Mattingly to shave off his sideburns, even though Mattingly has no sideburns. By the end of the episode, Mattingly is kicked off of Mr. Burns' team even though by then he has shaved off the entire middle third of his head. The event was not intended to be a spoof of a real life incident, as the taping of the episode occurred a year before the airing of the show. Ironically, it ended up as one. Mattingly was ordered by management to trim his long hair, and was briefly dropped from the team lineup for not doing so. It was assumed that the hair-cutting order originated with Steinbrenner (who to this day does not allow his players to wear long hair or beards). After Burns cuts him from the team, Mattingly says to himself, "I still like him better than Steinbrenner."
Mattingly has also appeared in recent Public Service Announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.^[7]

See also

★ List of MLB individual streaks

★ 23 (number)

★ Top 500 home run hitters of all time

★ List of major league players with 2,000 hits

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 400 doubles

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 runs

★ List of Major League Baseball players with 1000 RBI

★ List of Major League Baseball RBI champions

★ List of Major League Baseball batting champions

References

1. Now the Fun Starts
2.
3. Puckett? Mattingly? Or both?
4. Ask Don 1996
5. Baseball-Reference.com.
6. The 6th Question w/ Michael Kay
7. ; retrieved August 22, 2007

External links

★ The official website of Don Mattingly

★ Don Mattingly's Baseball Equipment Company

★

★ Don Mattingly's Hitting is Simple - book excerpt

Accomplishments