If you are in your late 20's and early to mid 30's and a Yankee's fan, chances are you are a fan and an admirer of one Don Mattingly. In fact, chances are, at one time, you considered Mattingly your idol.
In a time long removed from the glitz of the dynasty, the four rings, the trips down the Canyon of Heroes, the melodramatic response to not winning a world series in seven years, the Yankees was a rutterless ship heading swiftly towards irrelevance. From 1981 to 1995 the team made not one appearance in the postseason, not one, and had not even flirted with a championship caliber team. The 1980's and a good portion of the 1990s was defined by bad trades, disgruntled veterans, scandals involving the team's owner, George Steinbrenner, a depleted farm system and a wayward direction for the future. In 1985 the Yankees won 95 games but missed the playoffs because of the Red Sox. It was their one bright moment, their one moment to shine. Before, and after, was disaterous, culminating in 1990 when the Yanks finished in last place.
Free agents Greg Maddux and Barry Bonds flirted with the Yankees in their walk years, pretending to be only days away from making the Bronx their home. The truth is, neither superstar had any intention of entering the Bronx. They simply looked to the Yankees to ratchet up the offers they received from the teams for which they truly wanted to play. It was a dead time in the Bronx. It was miserable.
In the midst of all of that was Don Mattingly.
Donnie Baseball was a GREAT player. From 1984 to 1990 you can make the case that Mattingly was the best player in the game. He had a lightning quick bat. He had power to all fields. He was a clutch player who seemed to be at his best when the team needed him the most. He was elegant at first base, playing the position to perfection. He had a cannon for an arm. And he played the game hard every single day, every single moment of every single game. There was no half way or part way for Donnie. He pushed his body and his talent to the limit.
While other players were playing to get out of the Bronx or going out of their way to express their unhappiness with the Yankees, Mattingly took the losing like a man. He never demanded a trade. He never demanded the team get better around him. He handled himself with class and dignity from day one. He was the face of the team, its true captain because of the way he carried himself. In an age where athletes proved time and again that their flaws are just as, or even more pronounced than the rest of us, Mattingly proved to be as good as person as he was a ballplayer.
And then Mattingly hurt his back.
The injury plagued him for the remaining six or seven years of his career. It turned a sure fire hall of fame career into one just on the outskirts of Cooperstown. It turned Mattingly into an aged veteran well before his time and it robbed Yankee fans of the thrill of watching Donnie Baseball at his best.
Yet Mattingly still played as hard and as focused as ever, trying desperately to help his undermanned and overmatched team succeed any way he could. The thrill of watching Mattingly's talents on display each day was replaced by the reverance one was forced to have for a man who refused to equivocate.
And then 1995 came.
The Yankees won the leagues first wild card spot in the playoffs and Mattingly, at 35, found new life, hitting .417 in the Division Series against the Mariners and resembling the star player Yankee fans had grown to love. The Yanks blew a two games to none lead and were ushered into the offseason when Ken Griffey, Jr. slid safely home in Game 5. Mattingly stepped away at the end of the year, retired from the sport he had loved for so long, one year before the Yanks went on their remarkable run of division titles and world series championships.
It has always seemed strange to me that Mattingly decided to step away from baseball at 35 off a year where the veteran seemed to figure out how to recapture a good portion of his power and health. I always assumed that the Yankees, looking to get younger at first base and wanting to separate themselves from the past, put pressure on Donnie to step away and Mattingly, the pride and power of the Yankees for so long, couldn't imagine going to another team.
But now, as Mattingly's second career as a manager has been derailed both by the Yankee decision to hire Joe Girardi over Donnie this fall and his departure from the Dodgers where he was to serve as Joe Torre's hitting coach, new revelations have to come to light.
Mattingly, who seems tailored made for a job in baseball as a manager, is stepping away because of personal problems. He and his wife of more than 25 years, Kim, are getting a divorce, but the circumstances surrounding that divorce seem to be messy. Kim Mattingly evidently has a drinking problem, one she has been dealing with for years. That drinking problem has evidently not only contributed to the divorce, but has become such a burden to the family that Mattingly feels his place must be with his children.
But the divorce has also revealed that this is not the first time Mattingly has been forced to choose his family over his career. Reports now indicate that Mattingly would have continued to play after 1995 and beyond had his wife not become more and more of an alcoholic. It was, as some friends have called it, a "major factor" in his decision to step away, as was chronicled by Jonathan Lemire of The Daily News today in his sad article about the problems Mattingly faces today.
As a Yankee fan, Mattingly's departure from the team always left a small hole of regret in those championship years for me. It seemed as if Mattingly was owed at least one of those championships. However, Tino Martinez's stellar play and the belief that Mattingly had given all he had left in that division series lessened the blow.
But now, knowing that Mattingly could have potentially played years past that 1995 season, and could have joined in on the dynasty run, saddens me to no end. He was robbed of his opportunity by problems that were outside of his control, and Donnie made the sacrifices necessary to try and save his family and protect his children.
Now, Mattingly's career is again on hold, but my hope is not for too long. I was a proponent of Mattingly getting the Yankee job when it became open last year, but as the good Lord would have it, being passed up for Joe Girardi was probably the best thing for him and for the team.
I hope, for Donnie's sake, that this sabaticle from the game does not last long and that Mattingly gets another opportunity to coach soon. The man deserves a break, and it doesn't seem like life has been too willing to give him one over these last few years. I never thought I could handle seeing Donnie Baseball in another team's uniform, but my sincere hope is that Donnie lands in a great spot, with a good franchise, with a chance to win a championship of his own sooner rather than later.
Besides, no matter where he goes, no matter what he does, Don Mattingly will always be a New York Yankee.
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