Don Mattingly

Donald Arthur Mattingly was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana. He attended and played baseball for the Reitz Memorial High School Tigers leading them to a state record fifty-nine straight victories through the 1978-79 season. The Tigers won the state championship in 1978 and finished runner-up in 1979. Mattingly was All-City, All-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference and All-State in both 1978 and 1979, considered one of the nation’s top prospects as a high school player.

During the four years he played for Reitz Memorial High School, the Tigers compiled a 94-9-1 win-loss record. Mattingly had a .463 batting average and still holds the Reitz Memorial record for hits (152), doubles (29), triples (25), runs batted in (RBI’s) (140) and runs scored (99). His 25 triples is an Indiana state record.

Following his high school career, Mattingly accepted a scholarship to play baseball for Indiana State. 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 lasted in the 1979 MLB Draft until the 19th round, when he was selected by the New York Yankees. He was not as interested in attending college, so he chose to sign with the Yankees, receiving a $23,000 signing bonus.

After playing three seasons in the New York Yankees minor league farm system Don debuted on the major league level in 1982. Having a successful rookie season in 1983 he emerged as the Yankee’s starting first baseman in 1984. Mattingly went on to play his entire fourteen year career in the Yankee organization winning the 1984 American League Batting Championship followed up by winning the 1985 American League Most Valuable Player Award. In 1987, Mattingly tied Dale Long's Major League record by hitting at least one home run in eight consecutive games (record later tied again by Ken Griffey Jr. of Seattle in 1993). Mattingly won nine Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, three Silver Slugger Awards and was named to the American League (AL) All-Star team six times.

In addition, Mattingly was selected and served as New York Yankees Captain from 1991-1995. Mattingly retired after the 1995 season, the first time he had made it to the playoffs in his career as a player. In 1997 George Steinbrenner and the Yankee organization officially retired Don’s uniform number 23 at Yankee Stadium during a “Don Mattingly Day” ceremony to honor the Captain.

After retiring as a player he was asked to become special instructor during Yankees spring training in Tampa, Florida from 1997 through 2003. Following the 2003 season, the Yankees named Mattingly their hitting coach and the Yankees set an-all-time franchise record with 242 home runs in 2004. After the 2006 season Don shifted to bench coach. On January 22, 2008 Mattingly joined manager Joe Torre, with the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the team’s hitting coach and served under the future Hall of Famer for seven years. Mattingly managed the Phoenix Desert Dogs in the 2010 Arizona Fall League and then on September 17, 2010 Mattingly replaced Torre as the Los Angeles Dodgers 27th manager in Dodgers franchise history.

Mattingly will be entering his fifth season as the Los Angeles Dodgers manager having won two division titles (2013- 2014). In his first postseason as a manager, he led the Dodgers to a 3-1 NLDS series victory over the Braves before the club fell to the Cardinals in six games in the NLCS. Don has guided the Dodgers to a winning record in each of his first four seasons (354 – 293). He finished second in National League Manager of the Year voting in 2013 after guiding the Dodgers from 12 games under .500 and 9.5 games out of first place in June to wining a division title.

Today, in addition to managing the Los Angeles Dodgers, Don Mattingly oversees Mattingly Charities, an Evansville, Indiana based non-profit organization he founded to serve underprivileged youth, especially in the inner-city, by supporting programs which promote baseball and softball participation in conjunction with other developmentally related activities. During the off-season Don continues to travel the country inspiring young athletes and corporate partners while promoting the sport of baseball.

Mattingly has three sons from a previous marriage: Taylor, Preston and Jordan. He is currently married to Lori Mattingly with whom they have a new born son named Louie. They reside in Evansville, Indiana.