2026 Modern Baseball Period Committee Candidate: Don Mattingly

The next article is a part of my ongoing take a look at the candidates on the 2026 Modern Baseball Period Committee poll. Initially written for the 2013 election at SI.com, it has been expanded and up to date. For an in depth introduction to this yr’s poll, use the instrument above. An introduction to JAWS will be discovered right here.

Don Mattingly was the golden youngster of the Nice Yankees Darkish Age. He debuted in September 1982, the yr after the crew completed a stretch of 4 World Sequence appearances in six seasons, and retired in 1995 after lastly reaching the postseason — a yr too early for the franchise’s run of six pennants and 4 titles in eight years beneath Joe Torre.

A lefty-swinging first baseman with a candy stroke, “Donnie Baseball” was each an excellent hitter and a slick fielder at his peak. He made six straight All-Star groups from 1984 to ’89 and gained a batting title, an MVP award, and 9 Gold Gloves. Alongside the way in which, he battled with proprietor George Steinbrenner even whereas turning into the usual bearer of the pinstripes, the crew captain, and one thing of a cultural icon. Alas, a again damage sapped his energy, not solely shortening his peak, but in addition bringing his profession to a untimely finish at age 34. At its root, the issue was that Mattingly was so pushed to succeed that he overworked himself within the batting cage.

“Donnie was one of many hardest staff I had ever seen and performed with. He would go within the cage earlier than batting observe and take batting observe. And after batting observe was over, he’d take batting observe,” former teammate Ron Guidry stated for a 2022 MLB Community documentary, Donnie Baseball (for which this scribe was additionally interviewed).

“I ought to have realized faster to to not beat my physique up, and if I did much less, I might carry out higher,” stated Mattingly for a similar documentary.

Mattingly debuted on the 2001 Corridor of Fame poll, the final one earlier than I started my very own annual evaluations, however it was shortly clear that he didn’t have the uncooked numbers or the help of sufficient voters to realize entry to Cooperstown. After receiving 28.2% his first time round, he dipped to twenty.3% in 2002, spent a lot of the the rest of his 15-year run within the teenagers, and was in single digits by the top. What’s extra, in two appearances on the Fashionable Baseball Period Committee poll in 2018 and ’20, he failed to achieve the edge to have his precise share reported; in the latter yr, he and 2026 ballot-mate Dale Murphy obtained not more than three of 16 votes (18.8%). But on the 2023 Modern Baseball poll, up towards the PED-linked Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Rafael Palmeiro — the primary two of whom are on this yr’s poll as properly — Mattingly shot to 50%, the best share of anybody in addition to Fred McGriff, the lone participant elected by that panel.

Previous to that vote, I wrote that Mattingly’s finest hope for a Corridor of Fame berth concerned constructing on his early managerial success, although even in that division he had a protracted strategy to go. Since then, his managerial profession — three division titles in 5 seasons with the Dodgers, and 7 largely fruitless seasons with the Marlins interrupted by a playoff look and NL Supervisor of the 12 months honors in 2020 — has stalled out. He stepped down after the 2022 season and spent the previous three years serving because the Blue Jays’ bench coach beneath John Schneider. After lastly reaching the World Sequence for the primary time in his skilled profession this yr, he stepped down earlier this week. Given how typically his candidacy (and that of Murphy) has been recycled whereas statistically stronger candidates from this pool similar to Dwight Evans and Lou Whitaker have been bypassed for poll appearances, it’s obvious that the Corridor wish to harness the healthful appeal of his profession whereas sticking it to PED-linked gamers similar to Bonds and Clemens. To those eyes, Mattingly’s numbers aren’t almost sturdy sufficient to justify that.

Mattingly was born on April 20, 1961 in Evansville, Indiana, the youngest of 5 kids of Invoice (a mailman) and Mary Mattingly. He honed his baseball abilities at a younger age, enjoying Whiffle ball within the yard along with his brothers and different children three or 4 years older. It was in that yard that he realized to hit to the other subject, as a result of anybody who hit the tree hanging over the sphere on the primary base aspect was out, whereas hitting the household storage in left subject was a house run. “I give it some thought now being a dad, what number of occasions that Whiffle ball hit that metallic of the home. I ponder what my mother and pa had been considering,” he stated in a 2002 Yankeeography episode on him for the YES Community.

Along with his capacity to go oppo, Mattingly was ambidextrous. In Little League, he switch-pitched often, throwing three innings righty and three extra lefty. At Reitz Memorial Excessive College, he was a three-sport star, beginning at quarterback and level guard whereas splitting time between the outfield and pitching. He helped Reitz Memorial to a 59-game successful streak that included a state championship in his junior yr, incomes him a spot in Sports activities Illustrated’s July 16, 1979 “Faces within the Crowd” characteristic.

By the point of the 1979 draft, Mattingly had dedicated to attend Indiana State College on a scholarship, however the Yankees selected him within the nineteenth spherical, and he stunned his household by deciding to signal for a $23,000 bonus. He started his skilled profession at Low-A Oneonta, the place he hit .349/.444/.488; the subsequent yr, he batted .358/.422/.498 with 9 dwelling runs and 105 RBI at A-level Greensboro. Whereas his lack of velocity and energy involved the Yankees to the purpose that they thought of transferring him to second base due to his capacity to throw right-handed, he topped .300 at each cease within the minors with good plate self-discipline and excellent contact abilities, even when he by no means exceeded 10 homers.

Mattingly was referred to as up for a cup of espresso in September 1982, making his debut on September 8 as a defensive alternative in left subject. He made one begin and 6 appearances off the bench, primarily in left, and went 2-for-12, although it took him till October 1 to gather his first hit, a single off Purple Sox righty Steve Crawford. Whereas he broke camp with the Yankees the next spring, he performed in simply 4 video games — beginning two of them, one in proper subject and one at first — earlier than being despatched again to Triple-A Columbus; Ken Griffey was New York’s main first baseman that season. Recalled in late June after Bobby Murcer retired, Mattingly cut up his time between the outfield (48 video games, together with one in middle) and first base (42 video games), batting a skinny .283/.333/.409 (107 OPS+) with 4 dwelling runs, the primary of which he hit off Purple Sox lefty John Tudor to Fenway Park’s brief proper subject on June 24. He even made one look as a lefty-throwing second baseman in the course of the August 18 completion of the notorious George Brett “Pine Tar Recreation.”

Whereas supervisor Yogi Berra initially deliberate to make use of Mattingly to again up first base and each outfield corners in 1984, he gained the beginning first base job in spring coaching and emerged as a bona fide star, thanks partly to the assistance of hitting coach Lou Piniella, who taught him to maintain his weight again and to use backspin to the ball. From a 2021 interview with colleague David Laurila:

“Greater than something, Lou Piniella had a huge effect on me going from a man that was hitting doubles to a man that was hitting doubles and homers. It was actually nothing greater than mainly studying find out how to backspin the ball. I’d been extra of a top-hand man that hit a whole lot of topspin balls within the hole; I believed I hit them very well, they only didn’t exit. I’d all the time be sort of stunned, as a result of I felt like I crushed it. Then I realized to make use of the underside hand, and shorten my route, which unleashed extra energy.”

Mattingly hit .343/.381/.537 with 23 dwelling runs and 110 RBI, main the league in batting common, hits (207), and doubles (44), rating second in OPS+ (156) and fifth in WAR (6.3), and starting his All-Star run. He matched that yr’s 156 OPS+ in 1985, accompanying it with 35 homers, a league-high 145 RBI, and 6.4 WAR (fifth within the AL) en path to the AL MVP award. The Yankees gained 97 video games that yr, their most ever throughout his 14-year profession, however they completed two video games behind the Blue Jays within the AL East standings.

Mattingly was even higher offensively in 1986, main the league in hits (238), doubles (53), slugging share (.573) and OPS+ (161), and inserting second in batting common (.352, simply behind Wade Boggs’ .357), third in WAR (7.2, behind Boggs and Jesse Barfield), and fifth in on-base share. His numbers took a dip the next yr when he missed almost three weeks as a consequence of a again damage that was rumored to have been sustained whereas wrestling teammate Bob Shirley within the clubhouse; Mattingly denied that was the trigger, saying that he believed he suffered the damage fielding grounders throughout batting observe. Although he was recognized with two protruding discs, he truly hit higher after returning (.336/.371/.601 with 24 homers) than earlier than (.311/.390/.485 with six homers). His general numbers that yr, although they had been down, had been nonetheless spectacular, as he batted .327/.378/.559 (146 OPS+) with 30 homers, 115 RBI, and 5.1 WAR. That post-injury stretch included his tying a serious league file by hitting dwelling runs in eight consecutive video games on July 8–18, interrupted by the All-Star break.

Although Mattingly was not fairly as productive from 1987 to ’89 (.313/.360/.498 for a 136 OPS+ and a mean of 4.3 WAR) as he’d been within the three years prior (.340/.382/.560, 158 OPS+, and a mean of 6.7 WAR), he remained an All-Star-caliber participant, however that also wasn’t sufficient to assist the Yankees recover from the hump. They gained a mean of 91 video games from 1983 to ’87, with the aforementioned peak of 97, however all the time completed no less than two video games out of first place in AL East, and customarily greater than that. Because the crew slipped to 85–76 in 1988, Mattingly caught flak from Steinbrenner over his comparatively excessive wage — he’d signed a three-year, $6.7 million contract the earlier offseason — and lack of ability to supply a championship singlehandedly. The Boss referred to as him “essentially the most unproductive .300 hitter in baseball,” a ridiculous notion provided that over his first 4 full seasons, Mattingly’s .560 slugging share and 483 RBI — the trade’s shorthand for productiveness throughout that period — had each led the majors.

Mattingly didn’t take the criticism mendacity down, telling reporters, “There’s no respect. They offer you cash and that’s it. That’s so far as it goes. They suppose cash is respect. Name us infants, name us no matter you need. When you don’t deal with me with respect, I don’t wish to be just right for you.” He added, “It’s laborious to return to the ballpark whenever you’re not having any enjoyable… That is the primary season I’ve needed to battle myself to play the sport each day.”

Mattingly continued his All-Star-level play by 1989, however again troubles restricted him to a complete of 41 dwelling runs in ’88–89. For the 1984–89 interval, the six full seasons of his prime, he hit a mixed .327/.372/.530 for a 147 OPS+, averaging 27 homers and 5.5 WAR; in that timespan, solely Boggs, Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken Jr., Ozzie Smith, Alan Trammell, and Tim Raines had been extra useful.

Sadly, Mattingly’s profession started going downhill simply as he signed a five-year, $19.3 million extension in April 1990. He hit simply 14 homers and slugged .370 in 1990–91, lacking seven weeks of the previous season as a consequence of additional again troubles. Within the spring of 1991, he was named crew captain, filling what had been a void for 2 seasons following Guidry’s retirement. Even so, he was famously benched for one sport in August and fined $250 as a result of his hair was lengthy sufficient to the touch his collar, violating a crew rule. At that time, he informed reporters that he had quietly requested common supervisor Gene Michael, who at this level was working the group within the absence of the suspended Steinbrenner, for a commerce in June, however was rebuffed. Upon being benched, a defiant Mattingly stated, “Perhaps I don’t belong within the group anymore,” referred to as Michael’s enforcement of the hair coverage “petty,” and added, “He needs a corporation that will probably be puppets for him and do what he needs.”

Opposite to fashionable assumption, the hair incident didn’t happen till after an analogous scenario was lampooned on The Simpsons’ baseball-themed “Homer On the Bat” episode during which Mattingly guest-starred:

In Donnie Baseball, Mattingly admitted that he’d by no means seen the complete episode and had solely seen the clip a few times — an offense proper up there with McGriff’s admission that he’d by no means seen the Tom Emanski’s Baseball Defensive Drills video business that gained him such notoriety.

Mattingly escaped his two-year funk however was by no means once more a real offensive power, hitting .292/.345/.422 for a 110 OPS+ with a mean of 11 dwelling runs and 1.9 WAR from 1992 to ’95. Nevertheless, he did stick round lengthy sufficient to expertise the start of the Yankees’ aggressive revival, first with an AL-best 70–43 file within the strike-shortened 1994 season after which a Wild Card berth through a 79–65 file in ’95. In a bittersweet coda, he hit .417/.440/.708 in a dropping trigger in the course of the 1995 Division Sequence towards Piniella’s Mariners, his lone style of postseason play throughout his closing days as a participant.

After eight years away from the sport, Mattingly returned as a coach for the Yankees in 2004 beneath Torre. When Torre and the Yankees parted methods after the 2007 season, he was a finalist to take the reins, however common supervisor Brian Cashman as a substitute selected Joe Girardi, with the backing of Steinbrenner and his sons, Hank and Hal. The spurned Mattingly adopted Torre to the Dodgers, spending one season as hitting coach and two as bench coach earlier than taking up as supervisor himself. Although he guided the Dodgers to a .551 successful share in 5 years and gained three straight NL West titles from 2013 to ’15, the crew misplaced three out of 4 postseason sequence on his watch. He left the Dodgers after a 92-win 2015 season, which allowed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who had taken over the earlier yr, to get a recent begin with a brand new supervisor, Dave Roberts. Issues have labored out simply advantageous on that entrance; the Dodgers couldn’t recover from the NLCS hump in the course of the Torre and Mattingly years, however they’ve since been to the World Sequence 5 occasions, successful three, together with the previous two.

Mattingly in flip turned supervisor of the Marlins and spent seven years on the helm earlier than deciding to go away; perpetually caught in rebuilding mode, Miami gained at only a .430 clip on his watch, and misplaced 93 or extra video games 4 occasions. Mattingly did pilot the crew into the postseason for simply the third time in franchise historical past in the course of the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when the Marlins went 31–29 after which swept the Cubs within the Wild Card Sequence earlier than bowing to the Braves within the Division Sequence. For 4 of these seasons (2017–21), he labored beneath CEO Derek Jeter, with whom he had briefly performed in 1995 and later coached. For his profession, Mattingly is 889–950 (.483) as a supervisor.

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As a result of he retired at age 34, Mattingly wound up with reasonably mild profession totals, each conventional and superior, giving himself an outdoor shot at Cooperstown. Within the post-1960 enlargement period, just one place participant has retired at 34 and reached the Corridor of Fame: Ron Santo, whose election got here 37 years after his retirement, through the 2012 Veterans Committee poll (and, alas, posthumously). Of the place gamers whose closing yr was at age 35, Johnny Bench and Kirby Puckett had been first-ballot Corridor of Famers thanks largely to their connections to a number of championship groups, however Richie Ashburn and Invoice Mazeroski needed to wait a long time for election by the VC. A recent of Mattingly’s, Ryne Sandberg, retired at 34 however, after sitting out one season, returned to play two extra and was then elected by the writers in 2005.

By way of superior statistics, Mattingly’s 42.4 profession WAR is 23.6 WAR beneath the usual and ranks forty fifth in profession WAR amongst first basemen, beneath all however two of the 25 enshrined non-Negro Leaguers, Jim Bottomley and Excessive Pockets Kelly. He’s over 10 wins beneath McGriff (52.6), beneath a few Yankees first basemen who’ve adopted in his wake however made no dent within the Corridor voting, specifically Jason Giambi and Mark Teixeira (each 50.5), and he’s almost two wins beneath first-time Period Committee candidate Carlos Delgado (44.4). Mattingly’s 35.8 peak WAR is 6.2 wins beneath the usual and ranks thirty fourth on the place, beneath 20 of the 25 enshrinees, and his 39.1 JAWS ranks fortieth, one spot above the just lately elected Gil Hodges and forward of solely two of the opposite 25. He’s seven spots beneath McGriff (44.3 JAWS) and even additional behind Mark McGwire, Keith Hernandez, John Olerud, and Will Clark, all of whom had been bypassed for this poll.

Mattingly obtained 28.2% of the BBWAA vote in his debut, however inside two years, his help dwindled to lower than half that; over his closing 13 years on the poll, he cracked 15% simply twice, and fell beneath 10% 3 times. He was one among three candidates grandfathered into the Corridor’s 2014 resolution to truncate candidacies from 15 years to 10; he was heading into his fifteenth and closing yr of eligibility on the time and obtained simply 9.1% of the vote, a acquire of 0.9 factors from the yr earlier than. Trammell, who was in his 14th yr at that time, obtained 25.1% however surged to 40.9% the subsequent yr, and was elected by the Fashionable Baseball Period Committee two years later. Lee Smith, who was in his thirteenth yr, inched upwards from 30.2% that yr to 34.2% in his closing yr, and was elected on the 2019 At present’s Recreation poll.

Three years in the past, I wrote that it appeared extremely unlikely that Mattingly would observe that pair into Cooperstown. After he obtained 50% of the vote on the 2023 poll, and after Dave Parker was elected final yr regardless of a JAWS of simply 38.7, I’m a bit much less certain of that given the Corridor’s knack for engineering voting panels that seem to tilt towards (or away from) sure candidates. Parker no less than had the normal stats reflecting a whole profession (2,712 hit, 339 homers). Murphy, who’s additionally on this poll, has successful complete in keeping with Mattingly’s (2,111) in about 1,300 extra plate appearances, to not point out almost twice the house runs (398) and better profession/peak/JAWS (46.5/41.2/43.9) from a profession largely spent at up-the-middle positions. For as a lot respect as I’ve for Mattingly, I merely don’t see any justification to vote for him on this poll. I do know that sounds harsh, however his peak was too brief, and his profession too incomplete, for him to be a wise choose. Sure, he may need made it to the Corridor of Fame had he remained wholesome, however the line for gamers about whom that may be stated stretches from Yankee Stadium to Cooperstown — and if he’s going to get elected thanks partly to his managerial profession à la Torre, he’s bought an uphill battle at this level.