April 26, 2023

By Bob Elliott

Canadian Baseball Network

New York Yankee fans know him as Donnie Baseball.

Ditto for fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Miami Marlins where Don Mattingly managed. And now Blue Jays fans know him as the bench under manager John Schneider. During early batting practice, he takes infield -- as smooth as ever fielding throws at first base like the nine-time Gold Glover he was during early workouts. He talks hitting with the Jays young hitters. And he passes on wisdom to Schneider.

Flashing back to January of 1985, we take you to mid-town Manhattan and the New York chapter of the New York writers dinner -- the Baseball Writers Association of America -- featuring award winners from the previous season. The banquet was the week before Super Bowl XIX.

That night he was Donnie Football.

As Mattingly was introduced and headed to the microphone he put on a white head band -- the same kind Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon wore in his prime. In the playoffs, McMahon’s Bears beat Washington 23-19 before being eliminated 23-0 by the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park.

Mattingly, a native of Evansville, Ind., did it as a gag. And the crowd loved it. He wasn’t a Bears fan, but rather followed the Indianapolis Colts.

“I probably wore it for a minute, I certainly didn’t wear it all night,” said Mattingly this week at the Rogers Centre before the Blue Jays faced the Chicago White Sox in the series opener.

“George Steinbrenner wasn’t there that night, but he would have thought it was funny. He had a good sense of humor -- he didn’t want anyone to know it.”

We told him that over the years so many Blue Jays wanted to play for Steinbrenner because he wanted to win every year. As former manager Bob Lemon said once, “He might be tough to work for but he has never ever bounced a check.”

“George wanted to win every game, Gene Michael (former Yankee executive) would tell the story about a west coast trip they were on, it wasn’t a bad record, but the only games that were televised they lost,” Mattingly said. “George phoned and told Gene ‘You are winning the wrong games.’ George wanted to win at class-A, double-A and triple-A.”

One day leaving Legends Field in Tampa, we went through the exit with future Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera. I said to him, “Hope you enjoy the off day.” And Rivera said, “No, no. tomorrow is a big game ... we play in Fort Myers ... against the Red Sox and Mr. Steinbrenner wants everyone there.”

The modest Mattingly said he could not remember why he was called to the podium that night in 1985. New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden and Mattingly were honoured as co-winners of Sid Mercer award as player of the year. The 1984 MVPs -- Detroit Tigers Willie Hernandez and Chicago Cubs Ryne Sandberg -- were there along with the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards winners from each league, as well as the chapter’s own awards.

Mattingly won the MVP in 1985, although the Blue Jays beat the Yankees on the final Saturday of the year to advance to post-season play for the first time. The next January, Mattingly was presented with his AL MVP -- no head band -- and later McMahon’s Bears thumped the New England Patriots 46-10, headband and all.

Mattingly led the AL in hits (211), doubles (44) and won the batting title (.343) in 1984. He had a .918 OPS in 153 games, finishing fifth in MVP voting behind Hernandez, Kent Hrbek, Dan Quisenberry and Eddie Murray.

* * *

In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for players to form friendships with veteran writers. So, when Mattingly’s Marlins visited Philadelphia last year, he headed to Temple University to address Claire Smith’s journalism class. Well, actually technically he visited the Lew Klein College Of Media And Communication, as well as the Claire Smith Center for Sports Media.

You’re pretty good when they name a ball diamond after you ... so how good would you have to be to have a school named after you? Claire was outstanding, covering the Yankees and Mattingly for the Hartford Courant and the New York Times. Claire was the first woman to win the BBWAA Career Excellence Award in 2017 and was honoured at Cooperstown, N.Y.

Mattingly spoke to the class and did a Q&A with Claire’s class as well as signing a few autographs. He said he and Claire “developed a mutual respect for each other over the years.” The first baseman also had a respect for Jack O’Connell, then of New Jersey’s Bergen Record and now BBWAA secretary-treasurer and Billy Madden of the New York Daily News.

“Donnie was honest as all get-out, which wasn’t a surprise and the students, who had him happily signing everything, loved him,” said Claire. “That’s how I confirmed that my students are smart.”

Professors popped in to class to hear skipper Mattingly, as did a local TV channel.

“The Yankees are magnets, having the power to attract the curious, whether they like the Bombers or not,” said Claire. “Don talked about how to handle the job, in good times and bad. He gave the soon-to-be journalists lots of insight as to how their questions and articles land. The view of someone in uniform was new to most all.

“We in class always work on how to frame questions. Donnie talked about that too, trying to give the perspective held by young players and veteran members of the big-league family like himself. He’s the best.”

If you listed the nicest people we have ever met in the game, Claire would be No. 1, possibly lapping the field. It was obvious Mattingly recognized the same way ... about the same way he’d recognize a hanging curve ball.

* * *

Mattingly broke into pro ball at age 18 under manager Art Mazmanian with the class-A Oneonta Yankees. With a man on third, the hitter would give a number to Mazmanian and he’d respond with a number. If the two numbers added up to 15, the squeeze play was coming. So if a hitter said “eight” and the skipper wanted a squeeze the manager would reply with a “seven.”

“‘Quince’ was the number,” Mattingly said. “He never gave me the squeeze ... but maybe he should have. I was 18.”

Once again, baseball-reference shows Mattingly’s modesty. The 19th round draft choice batted .349 with three homers and 31 RBIs with a .932 OPS in 53 games playing short-season class-A when he was almost three years younger than the league’s average age.

“Art was a legend at a junior college (Mount San Antonio Junior College, two losing records in 31 seasons),” Mattingly said. “He was old school. He didn’t cuss. He made it a simple game of pitch and catch ... and he explained how it is a game of inches.”

Mattingly played for Bob Schaefer with the Greensboro Hornets in 1980, Stump Merrill the next year with the double-A Nashville Sounds (as a teammate of Buck Showalter ... now the two are dear friends )and Frank Verdi and Johnny Oates with the Nashville Sounds for parts of the next two seasons. Who was the biggest influence which he took into his 12 years and 1,839 games managing?

“I took the things I liked from anyone, things I thought would help, from guys like Johnny Oates and Stump Merrill and disregarded what I didn’t like,” Mattingly said.

He also played for Evansville native Ed Nottle in winter ball for Criollos de Caguas in Puerto Rico.

“I’d always needle him when I used to see him,” Mattingly said. “For the first half of the season, he hit me third. Then Jose Cruz and all these big leaguers started to play in second half of the season. I wound up hitting sixth or seventh.”

Nottle later managed the independent Ottawa Rapides in 2008 in the Can-Am League.

* * *

In almost 40 years of covering the major-league beat, the two best defensive first basemen I ever saw were Keith Hernandez and Mattingly. Whether it be the Montreal Expos or the Jays in a first and second, none-out situation I’ve never seen anyone but those two charge a ball quicker and throw out so many guys at third. Sometimes by 10 feet. Mostly the Expos. Maybe it was the pitcher attempting to bunt or the Jays didn’t bunt.

“The Jays would bunt in the 1980s, Alfredo Griffin for sure and then Tony Fernandez,” said Mattingly. “And this turf was so quick once in a while we’d throw to third if a guy hit a hard one-hopper to me with a man on second.”

* * *

David Cone’s name came up and I told Mattingly how World Series manager Cito Gaston said “the most relaxed he ever felt sitting in the dugout was when Cone was on the mound.”

Mattingly said with ex-Blue Jay Cone on the mound he thought “we were going to win every game ... same with Ron Guidry.”

Guidry won the 1978 Cy Young award going 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA striking out 248 in 273 2/3 innings when Mattingly was in grade 11. And he finished second to Kansas City’s Bret Saberhagen in 1985 with a 22-6 mark and a 3.27 ERA, fanning 143 in 259 innings.

The Jays eliminated the Yankees on the final Saturday of the year as Doyle Alexander scattered five hits and was backed by homers off the bats of Ernie Whitt, Lloyd Moseby and Willie Upshaw.

* * *

“People are going to like this team,” the bench coach said. “I like the staff. I’m surprised how good Vlady Guerrero is at first base. Vlad is going to hit for a while ... Bo Bichette too. They both have good approaches at the plate.

“There are a lot of good players here.”

And some pretty good ex-players too.