Don Mattingly

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Don Mattingly
First baseman
Born: April 20, 1961 (1961-04-20) (age 47) Evansville, Indiana
Batted: Left	Threw: Left
MLB debut
September 8, 1982 for the New York Yankees
Final game
October 1, 1995 for the New York Yankees
Career statistics
Batting average	.307
Home runs	222
Runs batted in	1,099
Teams
New York Yankees (1982-1995)
Career highlights and awards
6x All-Star selection (1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989) 9x Gold Glove Award winner (1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994) 3x Silver Slugger Award winner (1985, 1986, 1987) 1985 AL MVP 1993 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award New York Yankees #23 retired

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 also served as the Yankees hitting coach from 2004 to 2006 and Joe Torre's bench coach in 2007. In November 2007 it was announced that he would join the coaching staff of the Los Angeles Dodgers under Joe Torre, as the organization's hitting coach. However, on January 22, 2008, it was reported that he would instead assume the role as "Special Assignment Coach." Mike Easler was named as Mattingly's replacement. Mattingly joins the organization that drafted his son, Preston, in 2006.

"Donnie Baseball" is one of the most popular Yankees in the team's history. Despite not being a member of a World Series winning team, his popularity is comparable to that of Yankee greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. Since returning for the annual Old Timers' 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.

[edit] Personal

Mattingly married Kim Sexton on September 8, 1979. They have three sons: Taylor, Preston, and Jordon.

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.

When registering for hotel stays, Mattingly has used aliases, such as Bruce Almighty, to avoid unwanted fan attention ^[3]

[edit] Marital problems

Mattingly filed for divorce in November 2007. ^[4]

Kim Mattingly was arrested and charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct on February 2, 2008 after police said that she refused to leave the property of her estranged husband in Evansville, Ind.

[edit] Career

[edit] 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 percentage (.381). He also batted .400 with runners in scoring position.

[edit] 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. Also in 1985 Mattingly was the first farm-grown Yankee to lead the club in homers since Bobby Murcer did it from 1970 to 1973.

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, but nonetheless was still in the top 10 in the league in batting average at a .311 clip. He rebounded in 1989 to 113 RBI, but his average dipped to .303. Mattingly's five runs scored on April 30, 1988, marked The 12th time it has been done by a Yankee.

[edit] 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 was never quite the same. 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.

[edit] Retirement

Don Mattingly's number 23 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1997

Mattingly finished his career with 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI, and a .307 lifetime average. 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.

Mattingly's monument in Monument Park

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."

[edit] Cooperstown consideration

As to Mattingly's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, detractors point to his relatively short career and that most of his offensive credentials were compacted into six quality seasons from 1984 to 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.^[5] Puckett's career is considered by some as more consistent than Mattingly's. Puckett's postseason performances (including World Series championships in 1987 and 1991) is used to bolster an argument for Puckett, despite Mattingly's fairly successful performance in his only post-season performance against the Seattle Mariners in the first ever American League Divisional Series in 1995. 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 performance 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."^[6]

[edit] Post-retirement activity

[edit] 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 with 242 home runs in 2004.

On October 26, 2006, Mattingly was promoted to being Joe Torre's bench coach, replacing Lee Mazzilli.

On October 18, 2007, Don Mattingly was considered the front runner for the Yankee's manager position, after Joe Torre declined a one year contract extension. Mattingly was interviewed in Tampa, Florida on October 23, 2007 for the Yankee Manager search along with Joe Girardi, interviewed on October 22, 2007, and Tony Pena, interviewed on October 24, 2007. On October 28th, 2007 the Yankees front office announced that it had offered the manager position to Joe Girardi, and that neither Mattingly, nor Pena would be offered the position.

[edit] Mattingly Sports

In 2005, Don launched his new baseball and softball equipment company, Mattingly Sports. 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.

[edit] Los Angeles Dodgers

After not being offered the position of manager for the Yankees, Mattingly followed Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers, originally to serve as the team's hitting coach. On January 22, 2008, Mattingly was replaced as hitting coach, citing family reasons, and will instead serve as major league special assignment coach for the Dodgers in 2008.^[8] It is the first time he has worked for a team other than the New York Yankees in his professional baseball career.

[edit] Pop culture

Mattingly appeared in a baseball-themed episode of The Simpsons, entitled Homer at the Bat. In the episode (originally aired on February 20, 1992), 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 he had removed the entire middle third of his hair. In 1991, Mattingly was removed from the Yankee lineup because he refused to cut his hair. Manager Stump Merrill told him, until he cut his hair, he would not play again. Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has a policy requiring his players to maintain well-kept head and facial hair. 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.^[9]

Mattingly is referred to by name in several episodes of "Seinfeld."

[edit] See also

Indiana Portal

• 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 doubles records
• 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
• List of Major League Baseball doubles champions

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The official website of Don Mattingly
• Don Mattingly's Baseball Equipment Company
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference
• Don Mattingly's Hitting is Simple - book excerpt