When some players of his era were asking for a 2 million salary, Hank Aaron said that Don Mattingly was the only player worth that much at that time. I won’t forget that!
+Paul Newell You say that yet Kirby Puckett has numbers that are about the same as Mattingly's and yet Puckett is in the Hall of Fame. I get that Puckett was able to put together more consistency year to year, but they have a similar amount of at bats and Mattingly's stats are just as good as Puckett's and in some cases better. Obviously it all comes down to that bad back. Still one of the greatest ever.
When Donnie was healthy he WAS better than Gehrig!!!! When Gehrig played the avg fastball was low to mid 80s. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Best defensive of all time at first.
It will have to be the veterans committee to the rescue. Numbers mean a lot, but he was also a class act as well as an outstanding ambassador to the game. People like him as well as Dale Murphy and maybe to a certain degree Keith Hernandez definitely deserves consideration for being in the Hall of Fame
There was a 5 year span when Mattingly was the arguably the best player in the game. If that was enough for Koufax....Donnie should be in the Hall of Fame without any question !!!!!
@andrew lijoi Im guessing 82...to 86..so you may be correct 4 years. In those years he was magnificent both at the bat and on the field. I also believe Keith Hernandez should be in the Hall of Fame.. ..his glove was as much as a weapon as his bat. ☺
Even though a die-hard Mets fan,I always rooted for ''Donnie Baseball!" The world became a better place on Thursday April 20,1961 with the birth of Donald Arthur Mattingly in Evansville,Indiana!
I had the opportunity to live in Binghamton NY in the 80's and travel to Yankee Stadium every season. I feel very lucky to have seen "Donnie baseball" live and in color. My favorite memory is sitting behind home plate and Donny hit two homers in a double header against the Boston Red Sox. One in each game. I guess one could say, as we did then, "The Last of the Yankee Pride". A True Class Act.
Vastly underrated- he HELD up the entire Yankees on his shoulders all those years and it breaks my heart that he didn't get into the World Series. Well, there's always Cooperstown.
Best “lead by example player.” In my lifetime. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the privelege of coaching many baseball and softball players. I still to this day (I’m in my mid 40s) use Don Mattingly as an example of perseverance, hard work, determination and plain old lead by example and humbleness.
From 1984-1989 Mattingly hit .327 160HRs 684 RBIs, 1219 hits, 257 doubles, 6 time AS, 5 time GG, Batting title in 1984, MVP 1985, 2nd in MVP 1986, led league in hits twice, and doubles 3 times. Um yeah, from 1984-1989 he was the best overall player in baseball
My baseball hero as a child. It’s weird, both of my childhood sports heroes suffered from back problems that greatly hindered their career...Don Mattingly and Mario Lemieux.
Sometimes, you think that the best player should be the most good looking, talented at all levels, breaking every record in the books , but I prefer looking at players who worked their butts off and give everything you have at the expense of their abilities and that's Donnie Baseball.
The former seem to describe Mickey Mantle. While it's true much of his injuries stemmed from the freak knee injury in his rookie year but one has to wonder how the guy could have turned out had he helped his own case by staying sober and actually take better care of himself.
actually not during that time...Bonds didn't hit his stride really until 90 and Brett, while still great, was just beginning the latter part of his career...So by that rational you're wrong...84,85,86,87 Mattingly is the best in the game....Injuries derailed the latter part of career and thus he'll miss out on the HOF
Wade Boggs was the AL batting champ 5 out of 6 years, he missed 84 when Mattingly took it. In 86 Boggs won the title by beating Mattingly's amazing .352.
Ok, Boggs was a great player and a HOF...However, during those years Mattingly was better. Mattingly hit for power (Boggs did not, aside from one year) and drove in more runs. Then there is the defense, which there is no comparison for. In fact Boggs did not become a gold glove third baseman until he played for the Yanks . Overall, during those specific years, Mattingly was the best player in the game.
I seen Don play on June 30,1993 against the Detroit Tigers. What a great team the Yankees had that year. Jim Abbott pitched against, David "Boomer's or "Jumbo" Wells. It was such a beautiful day for Baseball ⚾ at Yankee Stadium. I was Eight my uncle Jimmy took me with, two of his friends. Since my uncle worked at the ballpark as a Bartender he was able to get us front row Tiger's dugout seats. I remember when ever Cecil Fielder got up to get ready to hit. Some extremely rude/nasty New Yorker was screaming at the top of his lungs "Fatfuc#" 'You Fatfuc#'. Nobody else but him. I was three feet away from the 1993 Detroit Tigers. Fielder was an extremely big guy. You could tell, it he got ahold of that baseball it was going to the upper deck or out of the stadium 🏟️. I have this game taped on VHS 📼 and need to transfer the games to DVD. I seen Mike Stanley the Catcher for the Yankees hit a Grand Slam. Everyone in Yankee Stadium Stood up. It's a memory I'll always cherish. I seen Donny Baseball on 1st base. Wade Boggs on Third. Pat Kelly on second base, Spike Owen on Short Stop. Paul O' Neil Left Field Bernie Williams Center Field and Danny Tartabull in Right Field. And Jimmy Abbott Pitch a close out. Later that year in September Jim would go on to pitch his No hitter. What a team that was. I was so surprised the Yankees didn't make it to the World Series that year. That was my one and only Baseball game I've ever attended to. Yankee's 7 Tiger's 0.
@@DeDona1 Yes, but that was no help to the Yankees who paid him a multi-multi-million dollar contract to win ball games. What was it? About $15,000 per game to see Winfield flop.
@@emg8810 That's not accurate. He flopped in the 81 series but his time with the Yankees was super productive. He was a perennial all star, played super hard, and was a top 10 player
Saw Donnie baseball many times in the bleachers. Almost a gaureentee he'd hit a Homer there every game. When Mattingly came to bat. Fans would always yell Donnie baseball. A thrill
I grew up worshipping this man. A shining star on an abysmal team. Back when Steinbrenner was trading their young talent for has beens (Fred McGriff,Jay Buhner,Doug Drabeck etc.) He deserved a ring more than anybody. The 95' season broke my heart. I still can't fathom how Joe Girardi was named the Yankee skipper over Donnie. Hopefully,someday,he will be a Yankee again,though he will always be a Yankee in my heart.
That's because the DUMB ASS Yankee ownership - Steinbrenner did not go after GOOD pitchers until Stein-GRABBER was banned in 1990 After that the Yankees finally built a good quality pitching staff to compliment their hitting.
Not many players get a nickname Mattingly had TWO Donnie baseball an the hit man. He's my favorite player an someday should be in the hall of fame. Oh yea alot of people don't think he deserves the hall of fame but I say the hall of fame deserves him.
Donny got screwed in 94 not 96. by the end of 95 he was done. Cecil won them the 96 series. Donny wouldnt have put up huge numbers. My childhood hero none the less. i attended his retirement ceremony
Are you crazy? Look at the numbers he put up in his first postseason in 1995. He killed the Mariners, one more guy with half the numbers he put up the Yankees win. I think he would have tore the cover off the ball in the 96 series.
The original captain, he really is , like kerby Puckett used to say , " Donnie baseball" . He played here in Puerto Rico before getting to the mayors , and was a batting champion.
mattingly is why I wanted to play first base since I was really young. I had no idea he was 6'0 though. he has that slight frame with the kind of slumped shoulders I always thought he was shorter. .352 and that's 2nd!
That's leg kick he developed, not only to aid his back and an evolutionary tactic to survival in the game of baseball, it's also old skool move. Mark of a real player.
Im still a bit angry the team couldn't hold the lead twice in game 5 in that Seattle series. Donny played his heart out but the staff couldn't win it for him.
Recuerdo esa época cuando Mattingy y winfierd peleaban por el liderato de bateo siendo ambos de los Yankee de New York. Recuerdo ese famoso nombre Mr campanita Mattingly. El famoso primera base
I have a friend whose nephew was a bat boy on Yankees when Don Mattingly was coaching and he said that Don Mattingly was the biggest assh*le in the clubhouse, oh wait a minute he was talking about someone else, just kidding guys and he said Donnie was a GREAT guy!
The NYY never did squat during 80s - 90s Donnie Baseball era. The Yanks finally woke up in 1995 when the washed up, over the hill Mattingly had to give hang it up because he was as played out as last year's toothbrush. Don't forget that in the NYY front office the rule is , "what have you done for me lately??"
i was listening one night to bill white and mattingly fouled off a pitch. white says "if they throw that pitch again he's going to hit a hr". next pitch they threw it again and mattingly hit a hr.
No one ever gives John Olerud any acclaim. There was a time where Don Mattingly was the best player in baseball, but when it comes to career numbers, John Olerud is actually similar to Mattingly's
By 1988 and 1989 Mattingly played with a bad back for the rest of his career. His numbers are reflected by this. Take that injury away and he would have been in the first ballot Hall of Fame.
Dude get the fuck out of here. Mattingly was better than Gehrig both offensively and defensively when he was healthy.....and you are comparing him to John for Olerud. LMFAO!!!!!!
Back injuries. Unless you have had one, it’s impossible to understand. Since mine, in 1995, I’ve had 4 surgeries, 2 neck fusions..... FOR WHAT?! So I could be disabled and never able to truly do what I love the most. Well..... 2 things I love most. Work 80 hour weeks, and make love. One disc can truly bring you down. In more ways than one! :(
I got this video. He was king until his back destroyed him. Yet he was still clutch at two outs situations even after the gods fucked him. That is why the Hall of Fame is a JOKE! Ass packing shills that never watched the game, the HOF is a joke. Just ask Maris!
Even though Don Mattingly did not play in the World Series with the Yankees, he must’ve had at least One World Series Ring with the Yankees. 1996: Don Mattingly was on the Yankees Roster. 1998 - 2000: Don Mattingly was still in the Yankees Organization developing Minor League Players in Florida. While still with the Yankees, did Mattingly get any of those 4 World Series Rings with the Rest of the Yankees during the Yankees Dynasty from 1996 to 2000?
Are these people high ?? Most revered.. uhhhh more than babe Ruth.... lou gerig joe dimmagio mickey mantle lol great player but cmon Babe Ruth is maybe the most revered athlete in sports history let alone ny
Michael Kay is ALWAYS over the top on things. I never much cared for him. He got lucky with the Yankees organization and probably knew the right people. Good for him I guess.
