Don Mattingly

Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is an American professional baseball coach, and former first baseman and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB).

He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of MLB.

Nicknamed "the Hit Man" and "Donnie Baseball", he spent his entire 14-year MLB playing career with the New York Yankees and later managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for five years and the Miami Marlins for seven years.

He pitched in Little League Baseball and was also a first baseman, throwing both right-handed and left-handed, and was a member of the 1973 Great Scot Little League championship team in Evansville, Indiana, under the coaching of Pete Studer and Earl Hobbs.

In American Legion baseball for Funkhouser Post #8, Mattingly played at second base, throwing right-handed.

Playing for Reitz Memorial High School's baseball team, the Tigers, Mattingly led the school to a state record 59 straight victories through the 1978–79 season.

The Tigers won the state championship in 1978 and finished as the runner-up in 1979.

He was All-City, All-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference (SIAC), and All-State in 1978 and 1979.

During the four years he played in high school, Mattingly batted .463, leading the Tigers to a 94–9–1 win–loss record.

He still holds Reitz Memorial records for hits (152), doubles (29), triples (25), runs batted in (RBIs) (140), and runs scored (99).

His 25 triples are also an Indiana state record.

A multisport athlete, Mattingly was selected to the SIAC all-conference basketball team in 1978.

Following his high school career, Mattingly accepted a scholarship to play baseball for the Indiana State Sycamores.

His father, Bill, informed Major League Baseball (MLB) teams that his son intended to honor that commitment and would not sign a professional contract.

Mattingly graduated from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Indiana, and was selected by the Yankees in the 1979 amateur draft.

Mattingly was the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude recipient in 1979.

Mattingly lasted in the 1979 Major League Baseball draft until the 19th round, when he was selected by the New York Yankees.

He was not interested in attending college, so he chose to sign with the Yankees, receiving a $23,000 signing bonus.

Mattingly began his professional career in Minor League Baseball with the Oneonta Yankees of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League in 1979.

He hoped to bat .500 for Oneonta and was disappointed with his .349 batting average, which never went lower than .340.

He batted a league-leading .358 in 1980 for the Greensboro Hornets of the Class A South Atlantic League in addition to recording a league-best 177 hits.

He won the league MVP award and was named to the postseason All-Star team.

With the Double-A Nashville Sounds in 1981, he hit .316 and led the Southern League with 35 doubles.

He was selected to play in the Southern League All-Star Game and named to its postseason All-Star team.

Despite Mattingly's hitting ability, concerns existed about his lack of speed and power.

Bob Schaefer, his manager at Greensboro, said that the organization considered moving him to second base, from which he would throw right-handed.

Debuting with the Yankees in 1982 after four seasons in Minor League Baseball, he emerged as the Yankees' starting first baseman after a successful rookie season in 1983.

Mattingly was named to the American League (AL) All-Star team six times.

Mattingly was batting .325 for the Columbus Clippers of the Triple-A International League when he made it to the majors late in the 1982 season.

He was named to the league's postseason All-Star team and finished third in the voting for the International League MVP Award.

Mattingly made his MLB debut on September 8, 1982, as a late-inning defensive replacement against the Baltimore Orioles.

He recorded his first at-bat on September 11 against the Milwaukee Brewers, popping out to third base in the seventh inning.

He won nine Gold Glove Awards (an AL record for a first baseman), three Silver Slugger Awards, the 1984 AL batting title, and was the 1985 AL Most Valuable Player.

He served as captain of the Yankees from 1991 through 1995, when he retired as a player.

The Yankees later retired Mattingly's uniform number (23), making him the only Yankee to have his number retired without having won a World Series with the team.

Returning to the Yankees as a coach in 2004 for manager Joe Torre, he followed Torre to the Dodgers in 2008, and succeeded him as the Dodgers' manager in 2011.

His first career major-league hit occurred in the bottom of the 11th inning against the Boston Red Sox on October 1, a single to right field off Steve Crawford.

The Dodgers and Mattingly mutually parted ways after the 2015 season, and he became manager of the Miami Marlins in 2016.

He remained with the Marlins until they mutually parted ways after the 2022 season.

Mattingly is ambidextrous.