HOF ‘09: Don Mattingly
“Honestly, at one time I thought Babe Ruth was a cartoon character. I really did, I mean I wasn’t born until 1961 and I grew up in Indiana.”
Don Mattingly
Donnie Baseball, a nickname bestowed on him by the late Kirby Puckett, was arguably the best firstbaseman in the American League from 1984-87. In 1985 he was named AL MVP, driving in 145 runs, with 211 basehits, including 48 doubles & 35 HRs, winning the first of nine consecutive Gold Gloves. His average soared to .352 in 1986, with an amazing 238 hits, & 53 doubles, 113 RBIs. In 1984, Don was no slouch in his first full year in the bigs, batting .343, with 207 hits, and 110 runs batted in. Despite injuring his back during the 1987 season, Mattingly managed to put up some pretty good numbers, .327, 30 HRs, & 115 RBIs. Over the next two years he wasn’t the same, only 88 RBIs in 1988, bouncing back with 113 ribbies in 1989, batting .311 & .303 respectively, however his homers dropped to 18 & 23. The next year was the beginning of the end, only five homers, with a very average .256 batting average.
Turns out Don Mattingly’s injured back was the result of horseplay between himself and teammate Bob Shirley. A friend, in the know, said Bob Shirley brought drugs to the San Diego Padres during the 80s, now here’s another reason to dislike him. Without a doubt, Mattingly was on the fast track to Cooperstown, until the Shirley incident. He still managed a .307 batting average over 14 years, with 1,099 RBIs, 2,153 hits, and 222 home runs.
Although Mattingly never played in a World Series game during his fourteen year career with the Yanks, he’s one of the most popular Bronx Bombers ever. The Yankees lost the 1981 World Series, the year before Don Mattingly made his debut, in his first 13 years in pinstripes New York did not make it to postseason play. In 1994 the Yankees had the best record in the American League, but a players strike cut short the season and meant no postseason play. On the final day of his final regular season (1995) New York won the Wild Card, Mattingly batted .417 with 6 RBIs, but Seattle beat the Yankees in 11 innings of the decisive game five.
Despite his enormous popularity, his .300 batting average, and his HOF first four years of his career, I have to ask, “Why is this guy even on the ballot?”
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Hall of Very Good |
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Why is he even on the Ballot? |
While we wait for January 12 ballot results, The Baseball Zealot will be profiling those players who are on the 2009 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Read the rest the of the profiles.
I was watching ESPN last night when a story came on which caught my eye. The story was talking about a women’s college softball game played between Western Oregon University and Central Washington University. 5′2″ Sara Tucholsky had never hit a home run in high school or college ball, but on this day she got hold of one, and drove it over the fence. In her excitement she missed firstbase, when she went back to touch it, something popped, it was her ACL.
Deja vu all over again, as Rafael Furcal once again is the center of controversy regarding signing with a team as a free agent. This time it’s Furcal choosing the Dodgers over the Braves, last time he snubbed the Cubs when he signed with LA in 2005.
I jumped so high with delight when I heard Steve Stone would be coming over to TV to join Hawk Harrelson, replacing Darrin “Yes Man” Jackson. But soon my joy was overcome by grief when I learned DJ was moving over to radio, joining Ed Farmer. I’m sure Farmer thought, what did I do to deserve this? Ed is kind of a jokester, I wonder if he’ll play around with Darrin, just to make him look stupid, not that Darrin isn’t fully capable of doing that on his own.
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