Careers cut short: Don Mattingly

Don Mattingly was the greatest first baseman of the 1980s who batted for both contact and power while displaying stellar defense, but back problems ended his career early. Photo by Pinstripe Alley.

Jack Butler

It's 1979 and the New York Yankees have just won back-to-back World Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1977-78 for the franchises’ 21st and 22nd titles. The Yankees had 29 selections in the ’79 June Amateur Draft with their best selection coming in the 19th round when they took an 18-year-old Evansville, Indiana native Don Mattingly out of Reitz Memorial HS. Mattingly moved through the Yankees minor league system as he played at a different level each year – Low-A in 1979, High-A in 1980, Double-A in 1981, and Triple-A in 1982. In those four years in the minors, he hit .342 with 101 doubles, 29 home runs, and 309 RBIs while walking 203 times to just 118 strikeouts.

The Yankees called up Mattingly in early September 1982 and appeared in seven games, one of them starting, going 2 for 12 at the plate for a .167 batting average and one RBI. The following year, he spent part of the season with the big-league club and Triple-A to hit .283 with four home runs and 32 RBIs in 91 games for the Yankees.

In 1984, Mattingly became the Yankees’ full-time first baseman and led the AL with 207 hits and a .343 batting average while being first in the MLB with 44 doubles. Donnie Baseball as he was nicknamed, launched 23 home runs and had 110 RBI to be named to his first All-Star team along with finishing fifth in AL MVP voting. The next year, Mattingly won the MVP after 107 runs, 211 hits, 48 doubles, 145 RBIs, and hitting .324 while having 370 total bases and 15 sacrifice flies. He was awarded his first of nine Gold Gloves that season and received a Silver Slugger. Mattingly was successful and so were the Yankees in 1985, who went 97-64, but missed the playoffs by two games to the AL East Champion Toronto Blue Jays.

1986 was Mattingly’s best statistical season offensively where he led the MLB in seven stat categories with 742 plate appearances, 238 hits, 53 doubles, .573 SLG, .967 OPS, 161 OPS+, and 388 total bases to win another Silver Slugger. He even hit 31 home runs and drove in 113 which didn’t award him back-to-back MVPs because of Rogers Clemens' historic 24-4, 2.48 ERA, and 238 strikeout campaign for the pennant-winning Boston Red Sox.

The 1987 season was another one batting .320 with 30 HR, and 100 RBI for Mattingly with history made by hitting a home run in eight consecutive games, from July 8-18. He even set the record for most grand slams hit in a single season with six which would be tied by Travis Hafner in the 2006 campaign. Mattingly won his final Silver Slugger and finished seventh in the MVP vote.

Mattingly hit .311 in 1988 while decreasing in production and power as he had 18 home runs and 88 RBI for a Yankee team that finished 85-76 for fifth in the AL East. He rebounded the next season, compiling 191 hits, 23 home runs, and 113 RBI while his average dipped to .303 where he was selected to his sixth and last All-Star Game.

Back problems flared up again for Mattingly in 1990 as he struggled at the plate only going 84 for 343 with five homers, 35 RBIs, 10 walks, 20 strikeouts, and decreased OBP, SLG, and OPS numbers. He went on the disabled list in late July only to return at the end of the season to have a shocking 101 hits, five home runs, 42 RBIs, and a .256 batting mark. In the offseason, Mattingly went through extensive therapy, but he never was quite the same player with the bat.

Over his final five seasons from 1991 to 1995, he played in 668 of the possible 744 games for the Yankees in which he became more of a slap hitter with only 53 of 752 hits being home runs and production decreased to just 340 RBI even if he had two 86 RBI campaigns in ’92 and ’93. Mattingly still had more walks than strikeouts – 246 walks to 186 strikeouts – whose average dipped to .291 along with other offensive stats and still made wonderful plays in the field to earn his final four Gold Gloves. He’d achieved so much individual success, but there’s one thing he hadn’t been a part of – the postseason.

In 1995, the Yankees led by manager Buck Showalter went 79-65-1 to earn the AL Wild Card and a date with the AL West Champion Seattle Mariners in the inaugural American League Division Series. New York got off to a 2-0 series lead but lost the final three games to Mariners at the Kingdom. Mattingly hit .417 with four doubles, one home run, and six RBIs in his only taste of the postseason. His time in New York ended when the Yankees signed Tino Martinez – who beat them in the previous ALDS – to replace him at first base. It worked out as Martinez became a key component to the Yankees winning four World Series in five years from 1996 to 2000.

Since he retired, Mattingly has managed the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-2015) and is currently the Miami Marlins skipper. As of May 11, 2022, carries a lifetime 833-874 record with four trips to the postseason, going 10-14 in October.

To reflect, in a position where power reigns supreme, Mattingly was the complete package at first base where he hit .300 in seven seasons, displayed contact with eight 180-plus hit seasons along with power and production with five years hitting 20 home runs driving 100 runs, and displayed greatness in the field as evidence by being a nine-time Gold Glove winner. His back injuries shouldn’t keep him out of the Hall of Fame as he is comparable to Keith Hernandez and an argument can be made that Mattingly was the more rounded ballplayer.

Sources

Roger Clemens 1986 Pitching Game Logs. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=clemero02&t=p&year=1986

Don Mattingly Stats. Baseball Reference. 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2022, from https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/mattido01.shtml