Congratulations to "Donnie Baseball" Don Mattingly and the Toronto Blue Jays on advancing the the 2025 World Series to face the National League Champions Los Angles Dodgers. The "Hit Man", has had a 40 year major league baseball career as a player (New York Yankees), coach and manager, however, during that time he never was able to reach the ultimate prize of reaching the World Series. That wait is now over.
One of Indiana's favorite baseball sons, born and raised in Evansville, Indiana; Don Mattingly is the current bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays for whom he has worked in some capacity since 2023. Mattingly graduated from Reitz Memorial High School (who he lead to a state baseball title) and was selected by the Yankees in the 1979 amateur draft. Debuting with the Yankees in 1982.
He led the Evansville Memorial to a state record 59 straight victories through the 1978–79 season, losing to the Logansport Berries. The Tigers won the state championship in 1978 and finished as the runner-up in 1979. Mattingly was the L.V. Phillips Mental Attitude recipient in 1979. He was All-City, All-Southern Indiana Athletic Conference (SIAC), and All-State in 1978 and 1979. During the four years he played in high school, Mattingly batted .463, leading the Tigers to a 94–9–1 win–loss record. He still holds Reitz Memorial records for hits (152), doubles (29), triples (25), runs batted in (RBIs) (140), and runs scored (99). His 25 triples are also an Indiana state record.
Now that Donnie Baseball has reached the World Series and hopefully he can win the title, maybe this will lead to a possibled enshirnment into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. He is already in the Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame. Below are some of his MLB career highlights, but you can also read one of our previous stories about whether Mattingly should be in the Hall of Fame (IHSBCA web article about Don Mattingly)
Again, Congratulations to Evansville, Indiana's own and Indiana Baseball Hall of Fame member Don Mattingly for reaching the World Series. The Series will start on Friday, October 24th.
| MLB statistics | |
|---|---|
| Batting average | .307 |
| Hits | 2,153 |
| Home runs | 222 |
| Runs batted in | 1,099 |
| Managerial record | 889–950 |
| Winning % | .483 |
| Stats at Baseball Reference | |
| Teams | |
| As player
As manager As coach
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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