Like so many other fans, I remember Don Mattingly and what he brought to the New York Yankees.
The statistics and career highlights are well known; thus there is no sense dwelling on this aspect.
What I remember most is the excitement he generated in those years that good health enabled him to rank as one of the game's best.
For me, that excitement was well expressed by Yankee announcer John Sterling calling a double Don had hit into the right field corner. "Mattingly smashingly," Sterling said.
I can also remember a hot summer's day in New York City. Picking up a newspaper outside Penn Station, I read of Don's back injury. My mind turned immediately to other players who had experienced the same type of injury, and I knew. The march to the Hall of Fame that seemed so sure was over - much too soon.
Don continued on following that injury, and was far more than a journeyman. But, alas, what might have been!
Here I am, having passed my seventieth year, and I have a Mattingly ball and poster in my study!
He was a pleasure to watch and root for, and had the work ethic and bearing that made him "Donny Baseball." His statistics may well fall short of the Hall of Fame, but to legions of fans, and many of his contemporary big leaguers, Don Mattingly will always evoke admiration and respect.
» Sam Person is a retired CPA and university professor who enjoys writing on baseball history.
Also by Sam Person
» Yankee Stadium: July 21, 2002
» Pete Gray Dies
» Memories of Jackie Robinson
» The Search For Dean Chance
» Baseball Returns to Brooklyn, New York: You Can't Go Home Again
» On The John Rocker Trade
» DiMaggio for Williams: The Trade That Never Happened
» My Favorite Events at Each Position
» Some More Jewish Baseball Players
» My Brother’s Baseball Cards
» Strange Endings to Baseball Careers
» The Pitching Change
» More submissions
Copyright © 2002 by Sam Person. Posted February 18, 2003.
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