Current Miami Marlins skipper and former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly will be center stage once again in “Donnie Baseball,” the latest installment of the MLB Network Presents documentary series.
“Donnie Baseball” premieres on Sunday, April 3, at 4:30 p.m. PT on MLB Network.
The show looks back at the career of baseball’s “Hit Man,” who had a 14-year career with the New York Yankees. Mattingly went into coaching in 2004 and he was named the Dodgers manager in 2011, leading the organization through the 2015 season before being named the Marlins skipper in 2016.
From his home in Indiana, Mattingly speaks candidly about his baseball life and what drove him to be considered by many as MLB’s best player for a six-year period from 1984 through 1989, being the only Yankee ever to have his number retired who didn’t win a World Series and reflects on what could have been if his back held up.
“Am I disappointed in my own career? Yeah, parts of it, I am. Parts of it, I’m very proud of. Parts of it, I’m not because I don’t feel like I was good enough as I should have been,” Mattingly says in the documentary.
“I should have learned quicker to not beat my body up, and if I did less, I could perform better.”
The program details Mattingly’s transformation from what Buck Showalter described was a “gangly, kind of long-necked [player] that kept the bat in the zone a long time,” to a baseball superstar who captured a batting title and an American League MVP Award by his fourth season.
Mattingly’s relationship with the late George M. Steinbrenner III is also explored. From Steinbrenner threatening to trade him in the spring of 1989 to naming Mattingly team captain in 1991.
Despite the back flareups which constantly plagued the later stages of his career, the program highlights how Mattingly was an influential force behind the Yankees’ revitalization that reached full throttle by 1994 and into 1995.
After stating in the film that he would have retired in 1994 if there was no strike, Mattingly plays on to experience one of the Yankees’ most dramatic postseason moments — hitting a go-ahead home run in Game 2 of the 1995 AL Division Series at Yankee Stadium in his first-ever playoff game, 14 years in the making.
With his family as his top priority, Mattingly gets emotional about the decision to retire following the 1995 season, recalling how his parents were always there for him growing up.
To speak to Mattingly’s iconic work ethic, the bond he shared with New York City, and his everlasting impact on the game, the film features new interviews with Showalter, George Brett, New York Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner, Wade Boggs, Bernie Williams, Ron Guidry, Mike Pagliarulo, YES Network’s television voice Michael Kay, New York Yankees and WFAN’s radio voice Suzyn Waldman, New York Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman, Mattingly’s high school coach Quentin Merkel and Hall of Fame voter Jay Jaffe.
Dave Roberts: Trading AJ Pollock a ‘big loss’
The Dodgers addressed their void at closer by trading AJ Pollock to the Chicago White Sox for eight-time All-Star Craig Kimbrel.
Kimbrel takes over for Kenley Jansen, who signed a one-year contract with the Atlanta Braves. Jansen holds the Dodgers franchise record with 350 career saves, but Kimbrel is the only active player with more than that at 372.
While a significant question mark in the Dodgers bullpen was addressed, it cost the team a productive everyday player in Pollock.
Manager Dave Roberts acknowledged trading Pollock was significant, but he ultimately feels the Dodgers and White Sox are both in a better position after the deal.
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