On the blog today, at long last, the first entry after 11-plus
years in the blog's existence, a card for my favorite player growing up,
Don Mattingly, who gets a "not so missing" 1983 card that was part of
my "Whole Nine: Series 2" set released a few months back:
Mattingly
made his Big League debut with the New York Yankees in 1982, when he
appeared in seven games for the second-to-last-place team in a
disappointing year after a World Series berth the year prior.
He went 2-for-12 at the plate, which comes to a .167 batting average, while playing both outfield corners and first base.
1983
would fare much better for the young man, as he hit .283 over 91 games,
even putting together a small batting streak that was actually busted
up by the famous "Pine Tar Game" as I remember it way back when.
From
then on, until serious back problems cut his career short at the age of
only 34 in 1995, Mattingly became a New York "God", winning a batting
title in 1984, an MVP the following year when he drove in 145 runs while
hitting .324 with 35 homers, a season that also saw him take home the
first of his nine Gold Glove Awards for his defensive excellence.
I
still feel he was robbed of an MVP Award in 1986 when pitcher Roger
Clemens took home the Award, but hey, 38 years later some things will
never go away for me.
As stated earlier, just when you thought
he was paving a clear path to the Hall of Fame, back issues took so
much out of his whip-like swing, that his power was taken away, and the
final six years of his 14 year career were solid, but certainly not what
fans saw the first half of his tenure.
When he retired, sadly
one season before the Yanks made it to the World Series and winning it
all, thus starting a dynasty that would last through 2003, Mattingly
finished with a .307 lifetime average, with 2153 hits and 1099 RBIs over
1785 games, hitting 222 homers, 442 doubles and scoring 1007 runs.
When
I tell you I idolized the man as a teen in Brooklyn during his career, I
cannot overstate it, as he was without question one of two true idols I
had, the other being singer Robert Smith of The Cure.
Just an amazing player that was sadly taken down by unjury.
"Donnie Baseball", "The Hit Man", however you remember him way back when, he was the best!
