Mattingly takes up five pages in my retired player books, which is pretty much the most of anyone I can think of who doesn't have a dedicated player collection. I think I might also have five pages of Mark McGwire and Nomar Garciaparra but I'd have to check on that.
I respected the hell out of Mattingly as a player when I was a kid, his prime years were right in the middle of my childhood obsession with all things baseball plus I was living in New Jersey surrounded by Yankees fans so it was impossible not to know all about him. From everything I could see, he was a good dude with a sweet swing who made the most of his chance with the team since he was one of the few young players the Yankees didn't trade away in the early 80s for washed up veterans. So seeing his cards is like a time capsule of all those great designs and oddball issues; he was one of the big hits you got when opening a pack. Plus Donnie "looked" like a ballplayer. I mean, you don't get a name like Donnie Baseball for nothing. The mustache, the flowing hair, the pinstripes, it all adds up to a perfect mystique.
I always refer to Mattingly as The Reverse Koufax in that he had five or six amazing seasons followed by five or six mediocre seasons punctuated by a career shortening injury. Koufax was exactly the opposite. His first seven years were mediocre at best and then he had five or six of the most amazing seasons you ever saw and sadly had to retire due to injury. Koufax's career numbers aren't that much different than say Johan Santana or Ron Guidry's and yet the only way they will ever get to Cooperstown is by buying a ticket. If Koufax hadn't built his legend and left us wanting more, he would never have had the unbelievable awe around his name. Mattingly's numbers are similar to another player, Kirby Puckett, who also left early due to injury. Puckett is in the Hall of Fame, first ballot no less, and Mattingly isn't. It is one of the rare times a Yankees player has gotten shafted by the system and by our memories. If you reverse his career trajectory and have him build that amazing resume peaking at his 1985 or 1986 season and then leave at 34 with a back injury, he's in the hall no doubt. This isn't me arguing that he should be in Cooperstown, mind you, but it is a major part of his legacy that isn't always talked about. It is one of the more undeniable examples that perception is reality.
Alas, the one place Don has not acquitted himself is as a manager. The Yankees passed over him for Joe Girardi so he went to Los Angeles and there, he made less out of more for five seasons and after they got tired of him, he's gone to Miami where most old people go to rot and done less with less. The less said about all this, the better.
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| If you care to notice, this page is nothing but fielding photos of Donnie Baseball. |
The other important thing about Don Mattingly that always gets talked about was his defense. He won nine gold gloves and I can recall more than a few big arguments, both in my childhood years and adulthood, about who was better, Keith Hernandez or Don Mattingly. There is no denying that Mattingly could pick it at first base about as good as anyone and I am not going to disparage his play. But Keith redefined defensive play at first and Mattingly then fit into that definition. There is something to be said about setting defensive standards; it is why Ozzie Smith is in the Hall (and Bill Mazeroski for that matter). Mattingly played like Keith and in most ways as well as Keith at first base but Keith was the first and best one to play the way he did at first. That is why I always say Keith Hernandez deserves to be in the Hall even more so than Mattingly despite his offensive numbers being lesser. There is something to being the first one to do something.
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Some further reading on the subject here.
