Yankeeography Don Mattingly

all I wanted people to look at when I played was the game when you taking me think of me on the field he might be the most revered athlete in New York history he was the one shining light in a dark tunnel he just looked so right out there in the uniform and dirty with the eye black on he never gave up Donnie represents the way baseball should be play just wanted him to be in the playoffs just just once when you think of number 23 certain images immediately come to mind I black a five o'clock shadow and of course a rocket first base he was in New York icon a man forever destined to become a Yankees legend hi I'm John sterling for the yes network and this is Yankee ography the truth of the matter is it didn't really happen that way Mattingly was a little slow of foot and at six feet not your prototypical slugging first baseman but that did not deter Donnie baseball everything he achieved came through hard work determination and the kind of effort Yankees fans couldn't help but love the year it was 1981 the Yankees were two games away from winning their third World Series crown in the last five years but rival Los Angeles Dodgers won the next four games capturing the championship and ending the Yankees reign little did the Yankees know that their most dominant player of the next decade would arrive in mid-september of the next season wearing number 46 Donald Arthur Mattingly remember driving to New York and walking through the tunnel the first time it's tough really one of the most exciting moments to me of my whole career was being called up the first time you know getting to the big leagues Mattingly's journey began as a 19th round pick in the 1979 Draft when he was chosen behind 489 other players he was not highly touted he came up through the system didn't have maybe the most talent in the world he did but he wasn't touted as one of these great talents that you just know is gonna make it the second play first base and this is why he can't pull the ball know you don't have enough pop to do I said my gosh he's only 18 19 years old they were in the pool 20c the stadium this tireless work ethic as a pure hitter will Jim rapidly through the minors to finding a spot at the Yankees lineup wasn't easy he had a really fight to get to New York I don't think people realize that I mean there was kind of a backlog at first base bones he was there Steve Balboni Roy Smalley King Griffey seemed like it was like 7 different guys with first baseman love so I pretty much considered myself an outfielder at that point to get to the plate somehow and being right had been left it feels whatever you know any way to get myself in the lineup to show what I could do after platooning in 83 he was war determined than ever just came off with winter ball in 83 and had one of that title and want to come back and fight for a job you know I feel like I want to play every day now first day camp yogi tells me I'm gonna be a swing man which to me meant I wasn't gonna play every day I wonder let him know and that's exactly what I told him I said if you get me in they're not gonna get me out that might be trouble with the Enfield though he cut his number in half 2:23 Don sees the doubles productivity playing stellar defense and suddenly hitting for power early in the 84 season he was named the starting first baseman they've learned how to Paul then he got strong ran a lot of good first baseman out of here if you remember we had a lot of first baseman I hope I'm at first all the time I think that's the best place for me I like making good plays and do anything I can't over there once he got a chance to play at first base you know he belongs I mean he's lured that type of confidence and it was just a matter of time getting in the lineup and Shawnee we can do he'd never had more than 10 home runs in the season until he belted 23 in 1984 but his most impressive stat was his batting average he was just getting his head he was starting to dominate even great pictures once he took off his Phenom by early summer Don's average hovered near 350 the teammate Dave Winfield also wielded a hot bat and together they staged an epic New York City battle for the AL battleground it was just two guys who were diligent at their trade that's what attracted everybody in the stadium because we were out of it the team was out of it so people just really enjoy classic good hitting and the competition on the same team it was great intensity to see the concentration to sit back and watch both guys get locked in from the minute they're in the dugout to when they go onto the on-deck circle and in the batter's box was incredible Don and Dave stayed neck and neck in a race that caught fire with the New York media Dave established himself as a superstar in the league and that's what I think a lot of people are for the underdog you know that for that young kid they make a no money yet so it was a lot easier on me than I think it was on Dave a lot more pressure on him on the last day of the season at Yankee Stadium Mattingly trailed by two points but the race wasn't over then his last event Don would get the last word the only imagine you know 23 years old just you know trying to get to the big leagues finally getting to play every day and then you know be fighting for a bad title I was just floating you know then just his first full season Mattingly became the first Yankee to win the batting title since Mickey Mantle in 1956 his 343 average was the highest for any Yankee left-hand hitter since Lou Gehrig he also earned the first of his nine career Gold Gloves the Bronx Bombers had their new first baseman New York City had a new star as Don Mattingly entered the 1985 season the reigning American League batting champion now faced some lofty expectations I said high standards throwing stuff what things I want to do I try to play to the best of my ability and if I can do that I know I'm getting happy and I think everybody else will be too Annie would deliver earning the nickname the hit man he was a technician at the plate he absolutely knew exactly what he was wanting to do with the pitch he had so much confidence he could hit strikes on he wasn't worried about it you could never get in the pattern with Donnie and shoot you to left and employee to right and as a pitcher that's difficult to deal with Mattingly led the team in five of eight offensive categories but more importantly he led the Yankees into a pennant race the only way he was he'll get out through the ball in the third five feet in front of home plate where it couldn't reach it otherwise he was gonna put the baton and get a hit everyone by yourself yeah just went about winning games going out and repented and I took this team so you play in the context of each game and all of a sudden that you got a monster in your hands donc monster year included driving in 145 runs the most by yankee since Joe DiMaggio but it was not enough to overcome the Toronto Blue Jays who had hold on and win the division by two games Mattingly's efforts were rewarded a few weeks later when he was named the American League MVP the way he handle it was was about as Pro easy to get I mean you get plenty of guys out there willing to trip talk about how good they are I mean Donny was one of the most modest successful players that I've ever seen in my life it was great feeling to have that kind of success had that kind of year but it's kind of bittersweet really at that point because we're not in the playoffs Kent State wins the World Series we thumped him to see all year long and for them to in the winland it's like you know you're slipped by you know to the 98 games it's the second best record based upon don't get in the Enki's work in contenders in 1986 once again Mattingly led the way at the plate and in the field nobody could play defense better than him at first base you the best first baseman defensively the everyone see sometimes it seemed like he could do anything Don Mattingly played third base in one ballgame out in Seattle first ball hit to him he turned to a second base so Donnie not only could play first he could also play third little known fact we finished 86 with a career-high 352 on the last day of the season he was within reach of winning his second career batting title this time he was battling Boston's Wade Boggs who was out with an injury it was a daunting task though as Don was several points behind Boggs 357 can recall getting in the cab riding to the ballpark with him in Boston and Donnie said it isn't over yet I remember the last day to go six for six I hit a bomb the first at-bat so I was kind of cool you know it could just see in his eyes that he was just walked in Wade Boggs had gone up in the clubhouse and started getting loose cuz he knew Donnie was gonna do it too I'm just having fun you know I'm streaming back good and just letting it fly there's two in performance fell short but was a gutsy everything that even the Boston fans had to apply it didn't quite fall in farm but I wasn't because he didn't hit the bottom barrel about I can tell you that in the MVP voting don was runner-up to another Boston star Roger Clemens but in a major media poll Mattingly was voted the best player in the game while other people might have been advertised as the next great thing and Mattingly was the next great thing he was everything that you would think if you went to central casting for a New York Yankee great player to be in his short career in New York Don Mattingly already owned a batting title and the MVP award suddenly the humble hero who was a big city storm hell of a New York a like the big city excitement of all that but I I was like coming home home is Evansville Indiana we're down grew up the youngest of five with three older brothers who excelled at sports Jerry the oldest died in a construction accident at age 23 that left Randy and Michael to nurture young Donnie he always searching for enough players and forced on him being younger was one of the last ones picked but he was always there and available and wanting to play all the time there was some times that we would sneak away send him somewhere then we go to the ball game and play but he had a way of always showing back up wherever he's at he had a ball he's saying anything it was connected to the ball that's what they like to do there's death and you could get them to Christmas if it didn't have a borrower about something like that they played this side here side of the house here the back here all the time this little grass strip we played knee football maybe underneath and I had to run through there and like that one very good game for me so a hot box game over here - guys - catch we had to try to get from one base to the other without the guy tagging when he'd see his older buzz playing well he'd pick up a glove the only glove he had the right hand only got to be about seven he picked up a ball with his left hand and threw it better than his right in that's when we determined he's really left-handed I think about now being a dad here how many times that wiffle ball hit that metal the house I wonder what my mom and dad were thinking when people ask you out come your brother's an opposite field hitter you know we all me one so the only way for me to get homers is right out there so I had left-handed ID and everything like that way so that's all I think I learned to hit the ball the other way playing right here Donna was a three-sport star in high school he was a point guard at a quarterback but one sport seemed to draw him in the most baseball found me more than me like I want to be a baseball player playing in American Legion there was a guy over in Owensboro and he was like the Reds number one picked that year and he was begun good sign the next day I go over as a freshman I get to Devils off this guy from that point on I started getting letters from like Scouts and stuff I'm thinking I miss to this better than the other team ever done was the driving force on his high school team leading memorial to 59 straight wins including the Indiana state championship in his junior year but he never left success go to his head she could go to school be the best one on your team or he could be the best one in your whole league in baseball but when you come home he was still fourth best I think that's why Dawn's humble he was just like what wild Reston's like many boys growing up in Indiana Don developed a solid work ethic knowing the value of hard work would pay off throughout his career people wouldn't think they thought he put that suit on without their flavor but it wasn't like that he worked he worked his coach at high school my high school coach to quit Marco he was one of the biggest influence if not the biggest influence on work ethic for me we got our first batting cage and we hung it up in a gym with clothes hangers and things of that nature yeah he got it he got some baseballs and he'd get four or five players and they'd go over and hit two or three hours before our practice and put that under at lunch and stuff I just eat real fast such I get the cafeteria quick and grab something to eat you go down the cage for like 40 minutes and hit whatever you thought him you didn't have to teach him over and over again or drum it into him you know he absorbed things you always talked to us about getting better if you're the best player on this team that you need to be the best player in the area for the best player in the area then you need this by mistake if you think you're the best by upstate you need be the best friend country that really helped me my league wise fight for jobs just keep getting better as the Yankees entered the 1987 season Don Mattingly was the toast of the town in just three full years he had established himself as an incredibly consistent hitter averaging 340 and a 30 home run man a rare breed in major league baseball there was every reason to believe there was so much more greatness still to come then while taking routine infield practice on a sunny day in June Mattingly felt a twinge in his back it was a portent of things to come diagnosed with a disc problem Don Mattingly was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his career but he quickly showed fans a glimpse of his resolve six weeks after the injury he went on in a stark home-run terror it was so easy it seemed like during that little stretch there and I starting the ball hard every day he was just hitting balls everywhere pulling balls out he was involved the other way and it was pretty fun and I'd hit a home run or something he'd come in and said that's nothing like this you have been off Charlie Huff crushed to death line I thought no it's pretty weird you know I'll send five in row and kind of continued from there you know it got hot in Texas against the Rangers he had a chance to tie a record but stood for more than 30 years hitting a home run in eight consecutive games he also set a major league record by hitting 10 home runs in the same span you were mesmerized by it we all looked at each other in the press box and we said this guy's unbelievable and that whole stretch you just keep looking at people upstairs unbelievable here it is nothing nothing and a bases loaded threat but Mattingly's run in history was far from over the six Grand Slams were also a record and an oddity it's six in a year that's kind of weird never hit one before and never hit one after just a year something in the cards and in the wind or whatever Mattingly found personal success in 87 but the Yankees could only find fourth place the finish the eighties with more wins than any other team but without a single World Championship to show for it it was the first decade of 60 years and they failed to win a World Series I just assume we're gonna get the playoffs we're gonna win felt like good things were gonna happen to us we always had good players had an opportunity to win every year and just didn't get it done as the team entered the 1990 campaign the American League pennant continue to be out of reach but Mattingly had other concerns a constant pounding of the rotational forces of swinging the bat we're causing him to have pressure on nerves and his disc tissue was not quite as strong and was slipping and coming in to regions that were that were tough for him to handle and it caused his problems you got to be more of an ache the dull deep ache you know you know it all day long you never just wake up and go into a man feeling good today I think that was why okay I have to get in the tub and do all the stuffs be able to play you know the thing with Donnie is you know he wanted to play every day whether he was hurtin or not but obviously you know there were times when when we just shut him down in late July his sore back again put him on the disabled list he would miss a career-high 60 games his pieman lowest point in New York it's really the first time that I was disconnected from the team you're off somewhere trying to get stronger and trying to get healthy and the team's kind of going on you know and that was primal lowest point Mattingly had just five home runs in 1990 and batted a career low 2:56 the Yankees came in last place losing 95 games over the next two seasons New York finished 20 games below 500 a gutsy Mattingly was a regular in the lineup facing not only the adversity of losing and also a nagging injury cloud is once ready in the future he wasn't able to drive the ball into the seats anymore if you don't have everything going together like a smooth running engine it runs rough and you don't get resolved some performance goes down and he's got to be very frustrated I don't know how many times that he's left that runner at third as a guy that takes a lot of pride getting that runner in it's a struggle not to have success that you had before it is frustrating to know that it's there or that that you know how to do it and you know what you're doing but you just having trouble bring it out again oh boy that was not his best swing right there no that was that the swing he's gonna take the Hall of Fame I was more afraid after that seemed I got released and I came back I was just like you know Superman you know I can't slow me down and he worried about it still gone and ended down so I thought you know I just get back to our watch and I didn't realize that it was kind of more about it was gonna hamper me you know from they don't really by the early 90s the one they called the hit man had been robbed of his power by a chronic bad back but no injury could take away his grit and determination he never gave up you know he was earlier there for treatment you do everything that he needed to do to make sure that he was out there every day playing to me that's all you try to do is affair you try to get the most out of yourself and the most out of your ability and I'm just trying to take the town that I was given and and utilize it and trying to increase it and make it better and better all the time he was special that's the best word we can use from adding me because in all phases of what he meant to me and to the Yankees he was just special he was so special that in 1991 he joined a unique lineage when he was named the tenth Yankee captain in team history it's an honor he held the rest of his career and one that would influence the future of the Yankees Donny's presence in our club best was almost undescribable he was huge Donny treated me like I've been on the team forever you know this guy's greatest first basemen ever played a game and got a little rookie coming in here and he's treating me like you know I belong here you had so much respect for him this is the way he ran out to this position and got ready and he knew the game too because he's he played it right the way to be professional about you know playing hard every day the way to conduct yourself off the field Donny represents to me the way baseball should be play Mattingly embodied a pinstripe pride that captured the essence of the game he wasn't just a player he wasn't just a Yankee he was Donnie baseball up there in the upper deck the high home played at Yankee Stadium who was where the term Donnie baseball became it's him it's Donnie baseball it's like Teddy ballgame of the Red Sox I mean there was never more perfect nickname because he was about baseball loved all aspects of game the team was in spring training in urban practice and they were done he wanted more just 30 more balls let me just feel 30 more balls he just looked so right out there in the uniform and dirty with the eye black on and then making a diving catch he just looked so natural doing it's such a likeable person that around the league I never heard of bad things said about that I don't know anyone in the game that didn't respect him when he stepped in the batting cage during batting practice you would see every team in the league stop and watch Donnie hit and it was it was something to marvel at I marvel at him they did especially in Yankees did he might be the most revered athlete in New York history he was the one shining light in a dark tunnel loved him it was just something about him he was one of us he was everybody I think a lot of people thought you know I could have been like done mad enough you can't fool the office they know players know gamers they know guys would come to play every day no no guys guys who leave their hearts all on the field and Don he did that even when he to do so well they knew he was out there busting his gut trying to do his best for the team that imitations do not fly in a arc because I've seen it all so you come in and talking trash and trying to trick them ain't working so you guys guy something to me and I call them just bring it man all I wanted people to look at was the game you know I didn't want him to see me in a commercial I don't want to see me doing this to that of the other when you think of me think of me on the field the name says it all Donnie baseball by 1994 Mattingly's perseverance had paid off the rebuilt Yankees were contenders once again and they were driving straight toward the postseason started to get to be a good team again it started to be a force we win two towns and they thought we were gonna win you can't experience that top part of the game without going through love when we started to get to be a good team again you just start to see the light in the towel and that was fun you just wanted him to be in the playoffs just once I just never got over the hump something always happened so what could happen to the ALS hottest team a September work stoppage and the cancellation of the world series the first time in 90 years I don't know some things are hard life and that was one of those things that was tough I felt like you know sucks you know we had a good team every single bad thing the the terrible seasons and and here it is here's his chance Don that he was gonna finally make it to the postseason and it was all yanked away he almost look like a tortured genius he had this unbelievable talent but he was never gonna reach the promised land we did have a great shot at getting in last year and I just feel bad for Ford I'm I think this year the focus is gonna be that again to try to get the postseason and it's not for anybody else but for him so in 95 the captain and his team were back and hungry everybody knew that Don Mattingly didn't have a lot of time left with the back it was getting worse and worse he would talk a lot about cutting his work down in the cages didn't his batting practice getting his skill worked on cut the ground balls down a little bit try to keep him effective and healthy for the four or five at-bats he would have every night tell me in doing his back stretches and stuff like that back to him and you can tell that you know that he wasn't able to swing back to where he wanted to during the course of the season in early August Donny baseball taught himself a new trick of the plate and it worked last two months I kind of started him leg kick and I found that a place that I could generate power from again it's probably one of my only regrets I wish I'd have found that leg kick like two years earlier because I think I really could generate a power with that I was able to kind of get back to myself because I could fill all the things fall back in place when I'm using the leg kick so quickly mattingly carry the Yankees down the stretch and is hopeful making the playoffs would require one more win in the last game of the regular season we play great baseball down the stretch and we've given ourselves an opportunity to control our own destiny today the first season of his after a seventeen hundred and eighty five regular-season games the moment had arrived Don Mattingly's playoff dreams were about to come true Mandy door hits it to Fernandez he goes to second Don Mattingly finally going to the postseason and he was the man everybody sought out to hug after this one was over it was a solid tortured ever bond on our club carried and I wore it on my sleeve I didn't find anybody knowing that I never had to bring it up a lot to our players because they all understood it and just such a respect for Donnie everyone was happy for him because playing your entire career being a Yankee legend never playing postseason finally getting there you realize it this doesn't happen every year I remember him coming up to me and grabbed me and telling me how lucky I was and I better not forget he's played for 13 I think for 14 years at that time and had me that'll make it in my first year you know kind of yelling at me you know it ain't fair you know your first year you make it that moment we've done the last day clinched the Wildheart you know down to the turf and they did the pumping of the fists that was specialist I mean I remember that today I was so happy for him I remember I asked him after the game and he just said that was for that long journey you know that it was finally over he got their faith in over the years I know I've said over the years I feel like I wasn't good there you know I always felt that way and you never give up that feeling never give up that hope it happens today it's great I've heard so much stuff played the most games about getting in the postseason and all that kind of stuff it kind of puts a mark on you like you're the reason that they're not getting postseason so to get there was a good feeling to get that little monkey off our back in October of 1995 Yankee Stadium was the site of a playoff game for the first time in Don Mattingly's career I feel new to postseason but I know it's just a game you know and it's gonna be baseball guys will be 63 6 inches a I try to get the ball in the strike zone and just be ready to go that first game in 95 when Don Mattingly came out there was such a feeling in that part you can see people with tears in their eyes I have never felt emotion in that Stadium like that day when Don Mattingly was introduced on the first base line before that game was the most thrilling moment in sports that I have ever been involved in at first base number 23 could feel the hair rise on your on your arms and on the back of your neck and you really got goose bumps because the stadium just had an outpouring of love I've never heard anything that loud that was probably the best thing I ever had coming on the field I cannot explain it how much the energy that gives you a player they've waited 13 years for Don Mattingly to get this location all the love that the fans have room for all those years and I said here you finally have your stage and we're happy for you Mattingly delivered pig with two RBIs in a game one victory but he would save it biggest drama for the 6th inning of Game two I was swinging good at the time I knew how they want to pitch me and knew how to attack it oh man there's some juice Flajnik the plows are just a whole different game you know he was first post-season waiting his whole career obviously and then they produce like that I got the chills I've never heard an ovation like that funny fans went crazy start throwing hats on the field and and it was it was something special about two games to none the Yankees headed to Seattle looking to sweep the best-of-five series but the Mariners would win the next two forcing a deciding fifth game tied in the six with two outs Donnie baseball would come through once again / wanna hello Stormers Williams at our nail and the indicators jump up for two was thinking too late and we're going the right direction here I'm thinking we're gonna win this game another Seattle comeback would send a game into extra innings the Yankees would score the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th but in the bottom of the inning the season came to a devastating losing in that fashion it's really very frustrating but I found some peace in his eyes he had a great series and even though he was disappointed he did the best he could in five career postseason games he batted for 17 I think deep down he knew we were retiring he didn't really say or come out and say at that point but I think deep down he knew and by going to that playoff and hitting as well as he did he knew that he was they've been playing that day on that stage too you know I wanted to see how I was gonna react in that situation to get in there at that level so not great feeling implicit you know we had a good shot I've been nice little right on that white horse on the way out so didn't get it I remember that long plane ride back from Seattle I was on that plane and Dhoni's sitting and talking to everybody we had a little conversation and I said people are gonna expect that from you every year and you have to race the bar higher and I was just listening to him even though I was sad I was like wow man this guy's strolling the catheter in the team Donny was saying goodbye to everybody people were crying it was heart-wrenching it was just heart-wrenching yeah I knew it was much more fun you know I know I probably wouldn't come back you know so so say bye as the Yankees entered the 1990 60s their sights were set on a championship but a familiar face for Samson 14 seasons had taken a toll on Todd Mattingly and in the step towards retirement he announced that he would be taking a year off and in fists got keep doing it but I was having more and more trouble being away from home money time being away from the kids I wanted to be around I'm starting to feel like even when we were playing at home I was on the road and I knew at that point that I needed to get out in a much anticipated move the Enki's traded for Tino Martinez whose Mariners had knocked Mattingly out of the playoffs the year before we were waiting to find out what he wanted to do first we wanted to act he basically gave us the blessing go ahead and go forward with whatever you want to do and we chose the trade for Tino they brought in a perfect person Tino came in and just did that so well so quick he actually bought Donny's house so it was just an easy easy transition to come in and play with the Angus with Tino at first the Yankees went on to win 92 games and the American League pennant in October in New York led its first World Series appearance since 1981 the year before Mattingly joined the club in game 6 they won the organization's 23rd World that was a proud and glorious moment for the Yankees but one they had to share without their captain it just you know I didn't seem right doing it without him you know nothing really seemed you know normal actually in 1996 without Don Mattingly it was hard it's hard to watch you go man I could have been there I don't play what you know I mean it just it was just tough it was sort of like a mixed feeling you know we wanted cap to be there you know to enjoy the time because we know that he was you know certainly part of the team you're having for the guys that you play with and stuff and you knowing that you're a part of that reaching you know that light at the end of the tunnel you know I just didn't get a chance to get to the final light you know I got some pretty bright where it was getting close by Sting gets that last little rung you know I don't believe that there is any player that I have ever had on the New York Yankees since I have been here as great as Don Mattingly in every way on January 22nd 1997 the 36 year old Mattingly officially retired from baseball at the eggies home opener in April he helped raise the championship flag that eluded him he had put so much effort both on the field in that Clubhouse and kind of setting this thing up and pointing in the right direction so I think you know Don he was part of that championship there's no question he was the things that we took into that year were a big part of what he gave the team and the game to the people who played with and that's the mark of a really true professional named later that summer a sold-out crowd filled the stadium to celebrate Don Mattingly day his number 23 became the 14th Yankee Jersey to be retired and his plaque was revealed in Monument Park alongside the other Yankee legends in centerfield means more to me than you'll ever know it's hard for me to imagine something like that just felt kind of you know embarrassed I think I look those guys are such heroes you know Mickey and Jody and caring and Ruth it's like you know it's like you fit in that category you know it was Labor Day and appropriate afternoon to celebrate the man who personified the heart and soul of the Yankees a six-time all-star yes but awards and numbers cannot capture Mattingly's impact on the franchise and the city he was considered too short not big enough or strong enough to do all these great things you know but it was just the way he played he played bigger than he was and that's this whole crew I don't think people expected him to become what he did and he just did it with such a quiet classy way and so humble that you know a lot of people gravitated or he's everything that you want your son to be your brother to be everybody you just stood for everything that I think that we've always thought baseball should be he was a great warrior he always felt like you had this warrior behind you no matter what at the end of every season Donnie was stuffing his locker and you know we were disappointed that we didn't win but we weren't disappointed in the way that we fought since his retirement the Yankees have added even more World Series crowns while Mattingly has retreated back home to Indiana where he tends to his family and his horse more people talk about how you played a few more years you they got World Series you never know you're gonna get that if you follow your heart and you did things for reasons that are important to you and that makes it easy every time I think about something like that somebody but I look back at this point and say you know we should have got one as a player yeah we shall we got one but I still made a decision I make no doubt about it so I feel good about that clearly Mattingly fully enjoyed his life after baseball but the lure of the Yankees was always there it's what so often brought him to Tampa in the spring and it's what finally led him to accept the job after the 2003 season of hitting coach I'm very grateful to Kim and the boys for allowing me this opportunity to do it being able to be in spring training the last few years with Joe and his entire staff it's been unbelievable in it and again it's another opportunity for me to be able to learn from these guys and to be a part of it I'm also very grateful for that all these players that he's going to coach now know who Don Mattingly is they know how he played in the Yankee uniform and now back in that uniform he might just get the ring that's so eluded him during his playing days there are two things that Don Mattingly was guilty of in his career as a Yankee bad timing and a bad back the first kept him from getting the chance to play in a World Series the second just might keep him out of the Hall of Fame Mattingly was a lock to make the Hall the first half of his career for a time there he might have been the best player in the game the second half he played through pain a true warrior and it was that kind of resolve that will forever earn a place for Donnie baseball in the hearts and minds of Yankee fans for the YES Network I'm John sterling and thanks for watching Yankee ography

Channel: BigTimeEmpire

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Keywords: Don Mattingly (Baseball Player), Yankeeography (TV Program), New York Yankees

Id: ZfQRse4VFHU

Length: 43min 35sec (2615 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 16 2015