TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Don Mattingly smacked a fist into his glove and tugged at
his pinstriped pants. He'd been gone too long, and was eager to get busy.
Five years after walking away from baseball, he jogged up the dugout steps
Wednesday and joined Derek Jeter and Reggie Jackson in the sun-splashed
outfield.
A hundred fans cheered the spring training instructor, wearing his retired
No. 23 jersey.
"This is probably the first time I've put on a uniform since taking it
off," Mattingly said. "Maybe they took care of me by giving me another belt
size."
Donnie Baseball and the New York Yankees. It always was a neat fit.
Still trim at 38, Mattingly looked like he never missed a beat. The Yankees'
last captain walked into the clubhouse with Ron Guidry, played catch with coach
Chris Chambliss, joked with Yogi Berra and Don Zimmer and visited with old
teammate Paul O'Neill.
"The time was right for me," Mattingly said. "One of the great things
about this club is the history and the legacy. Hopefully, I'll be a part of it
and help someone."
Said owner George Steinbrenner: "He's part of the family."
Mattingly spent his first day ever at Legends Field roaming the diamonds.
On the main field, the nine-time Gold Glove first baseman stood behind the
bag in a pickoff drill and watched Tino Martinez, the man who replaced him. On
a back field, he studied 21-year-old Nick Johnson, the Yankees' first baseman
of the future.
Johnson will be Mattingly's pet project for the next few weeks. The six-time
All-Star will travel over to nearby Dunedin to watch the rookie play in the
Yankees' exhibition opener Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays.
"I think everyone will benefit from him being here," Johnson said. "Just
watching him and learning from him. I want to soak up everything he has to
say."
Noted Jeter: "I think he was more of a lead-by-example guy. He'll be
working with Nick. He'll be accessible for all of us."
Mattingly, a career .307 hitter, did not swing a bat on his opening day in
camp. Asked if he knew the team needed a left-handed DH in the wake of Darryl
Strawberry's suspension, he laughed.
"No, I'm not aware of that," he said.
Manager Joe Torre, however, did not want Mattingly for his swing. His mere
presence will be enough.
"Donnie has been threatening to come year after year. I think he finally
feels comfortable with it," Torre said. "He's a little antsy on the first
day. He doesn't want to step on anybody's toes."
Mattingly traveled to Tampa from his home in Evansville, Ind., where he owns
and operates a horse farm. He said it was difficult to leave his wife and three
children, even for a few weeks.
Mattingly played 14 seasons for the Yankees and ended his career after a
playoff loss to Seattle in 1995. He never got to play in the World Series, and
left right before New York's three championships.
He said he had no regrets.
"You could take the three World Series rings and put them in my right hand
and I'll take the time with my kids and family in the other hand, and if you
looked at a scale, my left hand is just down to the ground," he said, tilting
his arms to illustrate.
"I feel like I did the exact right thing. It was perfect for me. It was the
right time," he said.
Mattingly said he'd thought about coaching full-time in the future, or
possibly even managing. For now, he was glad to be a Yankees spring instructor,
just like his friend, the late Catfish Hunter, once was.
"I always wanted to do what he was doing," he said.
Clearly, Mattingly's arrival was appreciated all around.
Mike McAfee, a 30-year-old Yankees fan from Olean, N.Y., got teary eyed when
his hero signed an autograph for his 1-year-old son - Bradley Mattingly McAfee.
"I always said I wanted to name a child after him," McAfee said. "He was
the best."