Page 8 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 2021 Donnie Baseball By the Old Sachem, Bill Stewart D onald Arthur Mattingly is known by two nicknames: Donnie Baseball and The Hit Man. He made his mark in major league baseball with the New York Yankees over a 14-year career, 1982 through 1995. He was born on April 20, 1961, in Evansville, Indiana, and started out in baseball as a pitcher and first baseman, and was a member of the 1973 Great Scott Little League championship team of 1973. He played second base for the Funkhouser Post #8 in American Legion baseball. Mattingly played for the Reitz Memorial High School Tigers and led the team to 59 straight victories during the 1978-1979 seasons, as they won the state championship in 1978 and runner up in 1979. He was All-City, All-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference (SIAC) and All-State in both 78 and 79. During his reign with the Tigers, their record was 94 wins and only 9 losses. His 25 triples are still a state record. He also played basketball and was selected to the SIAC all-conference team in 1978. He was awarded a baseball scholarship to the Indiana State Sycamores, but when the Yankees drafted him in 1979 on the 19th round he decided to sign and received a $23,000 signing bonus. The Yankees sent him to the Oneonta Yankees of the ClassA-Short Season New York-Penn League in 1979. His batting average for the season was .349. He was upped to the Greensboro Hornets of the Class A SouthLaw Offices of Terrence W. Kennedy 512 Broadway, Everett • Criminal Defense • Personal Injury • Medical Malpractice Tel: (617) 387-9809 Cell: (617) 308-8178 twkennedylaw@gmail.com ern Atlantic League and batted a league-leading .358 in 1980, winning the league MVP, and was named to the league All-Star team. His 1981 season was with the Double A Nashville Sounds, where he batted .316, led the league with doubles at 35 and was selected to the Southern League All-Star team. His next stint was with the Columbus Clippers of the Triple-A International League. He was with the team until September, when he was called up to the majors. He was again a league All-Star in the International League and was voted in third place as the league MVP. His first game in the majors was as a late replacement against the Baltimore Orioles. His first major league hit was against the Boston Red Sox in the bottom of the 11th inning on October 1, a single to right field. During his rookie season of 1983, he was a parttime first baseman and outfielder. His season average was .283, and he whacked his first home run against John Tudor of the Red Sox on June 24. He became the starting first baseman in 1984 and won the batting title with a .343 average, and he was selected to the AllStar game that year. In 1985 he was selected MVP with a batting average of .324, 35 home runs, 48 doubles, led the league with 145 runs batted in, and won the first of his nine Gold Glove Awards. In the 1986 season he led the league with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 388 total bases and a .573 slugging average. He was second in the MVP award behind Roger Clemens of the Red Sox. In 1987 he tied Dale Long’s major league record of hitting home runs in eight consecutive games. He walloped six grand slams in that season for a record that was tied in 2006 by Travis Hafner. He had minor back problems that season but ended the year with a batting average of .327, 30 home runs and 115 RBIs. He played with the Yankees the year after they won the World Series, and during his career never appeared in the World Series, although the team reached the playoffs in 1995 against the Seattle Mariners, where he batted .417 for the series. After retirement in 1997, Mattingly did seven seasons as a special instructor at the Yankees training camp in Tampa, Florida. He became the Yankees’ hitting coach in 2004. His instruction led to the Yankees setting an alltime record for home runs, with 242 in 2004. He became bench coach in 2007. When Joe Torre left New York for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mattingly joined his staff as the hitting coach. He missed the 2008 season due to family reasons, only to return for the 2009 season. The Dodgers were runner-up to the Philadelphia Phillies in 2008 and 2009, losing both league championship series. Upon the retirement of Joe Torre after the 2010 season, Mattingly was named as his replacement, and to acquire some managerial experience he took the position for the Phoenix Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League in 2010. The summer season saw the Dodgers have a winning season, behind Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp. In the 2013 season, the Dodgers won the NL West, beat the Atlanta Braves in four games, then lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS in six games. On January 7, 2014, the Dodgers gave Mattingly a three-year contract. The team and Mattingly decided to part ways on October 22, 2015. Don was the only Dodger manager to lead the Dodgers to the playoffs for three consecutive years. His managerial record of .551 winning percentage (446 wins & 363 losses) was second-best in the Dodgers’ history. He was the first manager to bring the team into three straight post-season appearances. Mattingly signed a four-year contract to manage the Miami Marlins in the fall of 2015. In 2020 the team went into the playoffs for the first time since 2003 and in that year he won the NL Manager of the Year Award. As of May 21, 2021, Mattingly had a record of 809 games, won 446, lost 363 and 8-11 in post-season play. For the Marlins his record was 752 games, 329 wins, 423 losses and an average of .478. His overall managerial numbers are 1,561 games, 775 wins, 786 losses, a percentage of .496 and 10-14 in post-season play. His career major league statistics are 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,007 runs scored, 1,099 RBIs and a lifetime batting average of .307. Don Mattingly was the owner of a restaurant in his hometown of Evansville, Indiana, named “Mattingly’s 23” after his uniform number in baseball. He started Mattingly Sports, a baseball and softball company that specializes in the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. He formed the Mattingly Charities, a nonprofit that serves underprivileged youths, supporting baseball and softball, and other programs of developmental-related activities. Mattingly appeared in an episode of “The Simpsons” called “Homer at the Bat” and was mentioned on many episodes of “Seinfeld,” one in which George Costanza splits his uniform pants. He has appeared as a guest artist on Christian recording artist Matt Felts’ album “Based on a True Story” – Mattingly sings a song titled “The First Baseball Game.” I know you Red Sox fans don’t like to hear about the New York Yankees, but some of the players deserve acclaim for their performances against the Red Sox and the other franchises in baseball. THIS WEEK ON SAUGUS TV Sunday, June 20 from 9 to 11 p.m. on Channel 8 – “Sunday Night Stooges” (The Three Stooges). Monday, June 21 all day on Channel 8 – “Movie Monday” (classic movies). Tuesday, June 22 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 8 – What’s Cookin’? with Gene. Wednesday, June 23 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – School Committee Meeting from June 17. Thursday, June 24 at 7:00 p.m. on Channel 9 – Board of Appeals Meeting ***live***. Friday, June 25 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Planning Board Meeting from June 17. Saturday, June 26 at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 9 – Board of Selectmen Meeting from June 15. Saugus TV can be seen on Comcast Channels 8, 9 & 22 (Public, Governmental and Educational). For complete schedules, please visit www.saugustv.org. ***programming may be subject to change without notice***
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