Mattingly not interviewing with Nationals
Dodgers hitting coach withdraws name from consideration

Dodgers hitting coach Don Mattingly has declined to interview for the Nationals' opening for manager, Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti confirmed through a team spokesperson on Tuesday.
The move could be an indication that Mattingly and the Dodgers are making progress on a new contract that would formalize his succeeding current manager Joe Torre, who has one year remaining on his contract.
Washington is expected to name its manager in the next week. Interim manager Jim Riggleman is a candidate for the position. Ownership is reluctant to spend top dollar, according to the Washington Times, likely eliminating possible replacements like Bobby Valentine or Buck Showalter.

The Times added, through a source, that all of the coaches from last season's staff have been told by general manager Mike Rizzo they're assured of jobs somewhere within the organization, even though their contract statuses are currently up in the air. Riggleman has identified potential staff members who, combined with holdovers from last year, could fill out a coaching staff soon, according to The Times.
"Like I said in the past, we have a terrific in-house candidate in Jim Riggleman, who has as good a chance as anybody to become the manager for the Washington Nationals," Rizzo said recently.
Another possibility could be former Mariners and D-backs manager Bob Melvin, who has reportedly spoken to Rizzo in recent weeks about a position with the club

Born and bred a Midwesterner, Don Mattingly gained fame and fortune on the East Coast. But he's still finding his way around southern California after completing his first season as the Los Angeles Dodgers' hitting coach. "I still get lost," said Mattingly, who was in Evansville on Saturday along with his son, Preston, to dedicate a Habitat for Humanity house as part of the Good Sports Build. "I know how to get to and from my apartment, the airport and the ballpark. "I haven't found the beach yet."

Don Mattingly,Yankees great, is settling in on the West Coast.

Mattingly, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, can find the Rose Bowl. He also was knowledgeable enough to help lift the Dodgers into the National League Championship Series for the first time since 1988 and to their first NL Western Division title since 2004.
In New York, Mattingly was so revered that his No. 23 was retired and a plaque was dedicated in his honor in Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 31, 1997. Considered the heir apparent to Joe Torre as Yankees' manager following the 2007 season, Mattingly was bypassed in favor of Joe Girardi.
As a result, Mattingly followed Torre west to Los Angeles. After becoming full-time hitting instructor following the All-Star break, Mattingly helped revitalize the Dodgers' offense with the help of the electrifying presence of Manny Ramirez. Since his acquisition on July 31, Ramirez hit .396 with 17 home runs and 53 runs batted in in just 53 games.
Mattingly said the Dodgers turned their season around when they beat Arizona Diamondbacks' aces Dan Haren and Brandon Webb a total of four times in a short burst. Los Angeles bounced back from eight consecutive losses with eight successive victories.
Mattingly, 47, is already considered old-school by some of his players, who were in grade school when he was banging out 2,153 hits and compiling a .307 lifetime batting average. In this age of video and computerization, he said sometimes players need to be reminded to keep their hitting approach simple.
He said the younger Dodgers emulated Ramirez's simplistic techniques, with stirring results.
"Manny hits off the tee," Mattingly said. "Every day it's simple stuff, just solid. I want them to be disciplined in the cage and have a game plan, find a pitch to hit.
"A lot of pitchers throw off the edges (of the plate). If you don't force them to throw a strike, they're not going to."
But the "Mannywood" era might be short-lived. Ramirez is demanding big bucks as a free agent.
"Manny is 36, but he's in tremendous shape," Mattingly said. "But you have to play the outfield in the National League and a six-year deal would make him 42. I don't know his status. I know he has a lot of options."

While it once seemed that Mattingly was destined to succeed Torre as Yankees manager, it never happened.
Torre, 68, will have to eventually step down in Los Angeles, but Mattingly didn't want to get caught up in what-if's.
"Right now, I'm signed for two more years, next year and an option year," he said. "After that, I don't know what's going to happen. Coaching is not necessarily a profession that you're locked in."

Donald Arthur Mattingly (nicknamed "Donnie Baseball" and "The Hit Man") (born April 20, 1961) is the Los Angeles Dodgers hitting coach. He was a first baseman who played for the New York Yankees of the American League from 1982-1995. He also served as the Yankees hitting coach from 2004 to 2006 and Joe Torre's bench coach in 2007.
"Donnie Baseball" is one of the most popular Yankees in the team's history. Despite not being a member of a World Series winning team, his popularity is comparable to that of Yankee greats like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio. Since returning for the annual Old Timers' Game, Mattingly has consistently received the loudest ovations.
Mattingly grew up in Evansville, Indiana and was one of the nation's top prospects as a high school player at Reitz Memorial High School in 1979, earning a brief write-up in Sports Illustrated magazine. However, most Major League Baseball teams avoided drafting Mattingly, expecting him to attend Indiana State University before entering professional baseball. Taking a chance, the New York Yankees drafted Mattingly in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur draft and soon signed him up.

Making the majors
The sweet-swinging lefty immediately proved his worth to the Yankees franchise. In the minors, Mattingly batted .349 in 1979, .358 in 1980, and .316 in 1981. He was hitting .315 for Triple-A Columbus when he made it to the majors late in the 1982 season.
Mattingly spent his official rookie season of 1983 as a part-time first baseman and outfielder, waiting for a full-time spot in the lineup to open up. He played well, hitting .283 in 279 at-bats, but with little power.
Slugger Steve Balboni was the favored organizational prospect at first base, but it became apparent in 1982-83 that Balboni was too prone to striking out and that his ranging right-handed swing was not suited for for the Yankee Stadium. Mattingly quickly surpassed Balboni on the team's depth chart, and Balboni was traded to the Kansas City Royals in 1984.
Mattingly became the Yankees' full-time first baseman and an MVP candidate. He hit .343 and beat out teammate Dave Winfield in a close race for the American League batting title with a 4-for-5 game on the last day of the season. Mattingly also led the league with 207 hits. He developed a power stroke, slugging a league-leading 44 doubles to go with 23 home runs. He was 2nd in the league in slugging percentage (.537) and at bats per strikeout (18.3), 4th in total bases (324), 5th in RBIs (110), 6th in sacifice flies (9), and 10th in on base percentage (.381). He also batted .400 with runners in scoring position.

Playing prime
Mattingly followed up his breakout season with a spectacular 1985, winning the MVP award in the American League. He batted .324 (3rd in the league) with 35 home runs (4th), 48 doubles (1st), and 145 RBI (1st), then the most RBIs in a season by a left-handed major league batter since Ted Williams drove in 159 in 1949. His 21-RBI lead in the category was the most in the American League since Al Rosen's RBI title of 1953. He led the league in sacrifice flies (15), total bases (370), and extra base hits (86), and was 2nd in the AL in hits (211) and slugging percentage (.567), 3rd in intentional walks (13) and at bats per strikeout (13.9), 6th in runs (107), and 9th in at bats per home run (18.6). He batted .354 with two out and runners in scoring position. Also in 1985 Mattingly was the first farm-grown Yankee to lead the club in homers since Bobby Murcer did it from 1970 to 1973.
Mattingly was also recognized in 1985 for his defense, winning his first of nine Gold Glove Awards. He was considered such an asset defensively that Yankees management assigned him to play games at second base and third base early in his career, even though he was a left-handed thrower. Mattingly appeared as a left-handed throwing second baseman for one-third of one inning, during the resumption of the George Brett "Pine Tar Incident" game in 1983. He also played three games as a left-handed throwing third baseman during a five-game series against the Seattle Mariners in 1986.
Mattingly did just as well in 1986, leading the league with 238 hits, 53 doubles, 388 total bases, and a .573 slugging percentage. He also batted .352 (2nd in the league), hit 31 home runs (6th) and drove in 113 runs (3rd). However, he was easily beaten in the American League MVP voting by pitcher Roger Clemens, who also won the Cy Young Award unanimously that year.
In 1987, Mattingly tied Dale Long's major league record by hitting home runs in eight consecutive games (record later tied again by Ken Griffey, Jr. of Seattle in 1993), as well getting an extra base hit in 10 consecutive games. He had a record 10 home runs during his streak (Long & Griffey had 8). Also that season, he set a major league record by hitting six grand slam home runs in a season, a record matched by Travis Hafner during the 2006 season. Mattingly's grand-slams in 1987 were the only six of his career.
MLB-Record Six Grand Slams:

#	DATE	AGAINST	PITCHER	VENUE	SCORE
1	05/14/87	Texas Rangers	Mike Mason	Yankee Stadium	9-1 W
2	06/29/87	Toronto Blue Jays	John Cerutti	Exhibition Stadium	15-14 W
3	07/10/87	Chicago White Sox	Joel McKeon	Yankee Stadium	9-5 W
4	07/16/87	Texas Rangers	Charlie Hough	Arlington Stadium	12-3 W
5	09/25/87	Baltimore Orioles	Jose Mesa	Memorial Stadium	8-4 W
6	09/29/87	Boston Red Sox	Bruce Hurst	Yankee Stadium	6-0 W

In June 1987, Mattingly injured his back during some clubhouse horseplay with pitcher Bob Shirley. Nevertheless, he finished with a .327 batting average, 30 home runs, and 115 RBIs, his fourth straight year with at least 110 RBIs. Between 1985 and 1987, Mattingly hit 96 home runs with just 114 strikeouts.
Though Mattingly would recover, recurrent back woes would curtail his statistics, and eventually, his career.
1988 was a decidedly off year for Mattingly, who had just 18 home runs and 88 RBI, but nonetheless was still in the top 10 in the league in batting average at a .311 clip. He rebounded in 1989 to 113 RBI, but his average dipped to .303. Mattingly's five runs scored on April 30, 1988, marked The 12th time it has been done by a Yankee.

Mattingly's back problems flared up anew in 1990; after struggling with the bat, he had to go on the disabled list in July, only returning late in the season for an ineffective finish. His stat line-- a .256 average, 5 home runs and 42 RBI in almost 400 at-bats-- came as a shock. Mattingly underwent extensive therapy in the offseason, but his hitting ability was never quite the same. Though he averaged .290 over his final five seasons, he became more of a slap hitter, hitting just 53 home runs over that timeframe. Mattingly's defense remained stellar, but he was not always physically able to play.

Post Season
Unluckily, Mattingly made his major league debut in 1982, the year after the Yankees lost the World Series. The team did not reach the postseason in any of Mattingly's first 13 years. In 1994, with the Yankees having the best record in the American League, there were hopes that Mattingly would reach the playoffs and perhaps, World Series. However, those hopes were stashed away because of the player's strike. In 1995, Mattingly finally reached the playoffs when the Yankees won the AL wild card on the next-to-last day of the season. Their opponents were the Seattle Mariners.
In the only postseason series of his career, Mattingly batted .417 with 6 RBI and a memorable go-ahead home run in Game Two, his final game at Yankee Stadium. In the final game of the series (and of his career), Mattingly again broke a tie with a two-run double. But the New York bullpen faltered and Seattle won in the 11th inning of the decisive Game Five.

Retirement
Don Mattingly's number 23 was retired by the New York Yankees in 1997
Mattingly finished his career with 2,153 hits, 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI, and a .307 lifetime average. He is commonly cited as the best Yankee player to have never played in a World Series. His career had bad timing, as the Yankees lost the World Series the year before he broke into the big leagues and they ended up winning the World Series in the first year of Mattingly's retirement. This World Series drought (1982-1995) was the longest in Yankees history since the start of the Babe Ruth era.

Mattingly's monument in Monument Park. The Yankees retired Mattingly's number 23 and dedicated his plaque for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium on August 31, 1997. The plaque calls him "A humble man of grace and dignity, a captain who led by example, proud of the pinstripe tradition and dedicated to the pursuit of excellence, a Yankee forever."

Cooperstown consideration
As to Mattingly's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, detractors point to his relatively short career and that most of his offensive credentials were compacted into six quality seasons from 1984 to 1989. Mattingly has never been named on more than 28% of ballots; in 2006 he was down to 12% of the ballots (For election, a player must be listed by 75% of the voters). Mattingly's supporters for HOF induction point to his offensive numbers, and his historically exceptional Gold Glove defensive skills are comparable with his contemporary Kirby Puckett, who was a first ballot Hall-of-Famer.[5] Puckett's career is considered by some as more consistent than Mattingly's. Puckett's postseason performances (including World Series championships in 1987 and 1991) are used to bolster an argument for Puckett, despite Mattingly's strong performance in his only post-season performance against the Seattle Mariners in the American League Divisional Series in 1995. Mattingly's career was also similar to that of Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, both of whom were MVPs and nine-time Gold Glove winners. However, Sandberg's performance numbers compared more favorably against his position, second base. First basemen with similar career offensive numbers to Mattingly, such as Will Clark and Cecil Cooper, have generated little Hall of Fame interest. It was Puckett who dubbed Mattingly "Donnie Baseball."[6]

Career Hitting

G	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	R	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
1785	7003	2153	442	20	222	1007	1099	14	588	444	.307	.358	.471	.829

Back with the Yankees
After retiring as a player, Mattingly spent seven seasons as a special instructor during Yankees' spring training in Tampa, Florida from 1997-2003.
Following the 2003 season, the Yankees named Mattingly the hitting coach. He spent three seasons in that role, receiving much praise from the Yankees organization and his players. Under Mattingly, the Yankees set an all-time franchise record with 242 home runs in 2004.
On October 26, 2006, Mattingly was promoted to being Joe Torre's bench coach, replacing Lee Mazzilli.
On October 18, 2007, Don Mattingly was considered the front runner for the Yankee's manager position, after Joe Torre declined a one year contract extension. Mattingly was interviewed in Tampa, Florida on October 23, 2007 for the Yankee Manager search along with Joe Girardi, interviewed on October 22, 2007, and Tony Pena, interviewed on October 24, 2007. On October 28th, 2007 the Yankees front office announced that it had offered the manager position to Joe Girardi, and that neither Mattingly, nor Pena would be offered the position.

Mattingly Sports
In 2005, Mattingly launched his new baseball and softball equipment company, Mattingly Sports. The company is based on the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. After watching his kids and their friends struggle with maintaining the proper hitting grip, Don, along with co-inventor Jim Wells, created the V-Grip as a way to ensure the proper alignment of the hands and to keep the bat out in the hitter's fingertips. A third founder, Skip Shaw, was brought in to grow the company into a meaningful player in the baseball and softball equipment marketplace. The V-Grip bats have been approved for game play by all of the major leagues and associations including Little League Baseball, Babe Ruth including Ripken Baseball, Pony League, Dixie Youth, AABC, ASA, USSSA, National Federation of High Schools and the NCAA.

Los Angeles Dodgers
After not being offered the position of manager for the Yankees, Mattingly followed Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers, originally to serve as the team's hitting coach. On January 22, 2008, Mattingly was replaced as hitting coach, citing family reasons, and instead served as major league special assignment coach for the Dodgers in 2008. It is the first time he has worked for a team other than the New York Yankees in his professional baseball career. The Los Angeles Times reported on July 9 that Mattingly is once again the Dodgers' hitting coach replacing Mike Easler. Mattingly's Dodgers would make the playoffs in 2008 and advance to the National League Championship Series, largely behind the bat of mid-season aquisition Manny Ramirez, before losing the NLCS to the Philadelphia Phillies. Mattingly will return as Dodger's hitting coach in '09.

Pop culture and the infamous "Hair cut" controversy
Mattingly appeared in a baseball-themed episode of The Simpsons, entitled Homer at the Bat. In the episode (originally aired on February 20, 1992), team owner Mr. Burns repeatedly orders Mattingly to shave off his sideburns, even though Mattingly has no sideburns. Apparently Burns is the only one that can see them. ((Yankee owner George Steinbrenner has a policy requiring his players to maintain well-kept head and facial hair). A confused Mattingly returns with 1/3 of his head shaved from one ear over the top of the head to other. The irate Burns cuts him from the team because he would not "shave those sideburns!" The exasperated Mattingly says to himself, "I still like him better than Steinbrenner."
In 1991 life imitated art when the most infamous incident involving a Yankee and head and facial hair policy occurred. Mattingly was then sporting a longish or mullet like hair style. Although George Steinbrenner was suspended, Manager Stump Merrill told him, until he cut his hair, he would not play again. When Mattingly refused he was benched. This led to huge media frenzy with reporters and talk radio repeatedly mocking the team so much so that the WPIX broadcasting crew of Phil Rizzuto, Bobby Murcer, and Tom Seaver lampooned the incident before the start of a game on a pregame show with Rizzuto playing the role of a barber sent to enforce the policy. Mimicking The Simpsons, a perfectly groomed Seaver has hair that to Rizzuto appears "a bit too long." Before proceeding with the telecast Rizzuto "trims" Seaver's hair with a barber shears.
Many people believed the joke in The Simpsons episode to be a reference to the incident, but "Homer at the Bat" was actually recorded a year before it happened. Mattingly would eventually be reinstated but the episode was cloud on the season. In 1995, Mattingly again ran afoul of the policy when he grew a goatee.
Mattingly has also appeared in recent Public Service Announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.
Mattingly is referred to by name in several episodes of "Seinfeld." In one memorable episode his uniform pants split because they were made of 100% cotton at the behest of one of the characters.