Don Mattingly
Donald Arthur "Don" Mattingly ( born April 20, 1961 in Evansville, Indiana ) is a former American professional baseball player in Major League Baseball. His nickname is Donnie Baseball.
Biography
Don Mattingly was from the 1984 season regulars of the New York Yankees on the position of the first baseman. Even as a high school player, he was considered one of the greatest talents in the USA. Since most major league teams thought he would go to college, it the Yankees in the 19th round of the 1979 amateur drafts could undertake. Through convincing performance in the minor leagues, he came on 8 September 1982 at its first use in the Big Leagues. In 1983, he played alternately first base or in the outfield. Outstanding performances he showed then 1984. He won the title for the best batting average with .343 and let his teammates Dave Winfield behind. Mattingly was the first left-handed hitter of the Yankees, who hit better than .340 since Lou Gehrig.
In 1985, he won the MVP title of the American League. In 1987, he presented with six grand slam home runs in a season set a new record. Curiously, this remained the only six in the career Mattinglys. With home runs in eight consecutive games he set the record of Dale Long in 1956. He also won the Gold Glove five times from 1985-89 Award.
As of the 1990 season, Mattingly was struggling with back problems, which minimized his achievements something. Only in 1994, when the players strike ended the season early on, he struck again more than 30 %. In his last year as a player was in 1995 at the only playoff participation with the Yankees for him. The Yankees defeated by the Seattle Mariners with 2:3, even though they had won the first two games and Mattingly had a batting average of over 41 %. Thus Mattingly is one of the few great Yankee players who can not have a title.
Officially joined Mattingly back in 1997, but denied in 1996, the year in which the Yankees were their first World Series win since 1978, no longer a game. On 31 August 1997, the Yankees erected a plaque for Don Mattingly in Monument Park and awarded since no longer his number 23. From 2003 to 2007 worked as Mattingly Hitting coach for the Yankees. In 2008, he went along with manager Joe Torre to the Los Angeles Dodgers and is there as well as Hitting Coach operates. Since the 2011 season, Mattingly has assumed the position of manager in the Dodgers.