He walked away from Miami, contemplating retirement. Now, Donnie Baseball returns to loanDepot Park, managing a new team with unexpected twists.
MIAMI — Don Mattingly’s final season as the manager of the Miami Marlins ended with an emotional goodbye from his Cy Young Award-winning ace and a salute to the fans on the way out.
Four years later, Mattingly returns to loanDepot Park for the first time as an opposing manager, now leading the Phillies. With a talented veteran roster looking to rebound from a slow start, he returns to the scene of what he originally thought was the end of not just his managerial career, but the end of a baseball career that defined Mattingly as “Donnie Baseball.”
“Honestly when I left Miami, I didn’t know,” Mattingly said Friday. “I was really kind of thinking about getting out of baseball, at least from an everyday standpoint.”
Mattingly’s contract expired after the 2022 season and both sides decided to go their separate ways afterward. Mattingly left the Marlins as the franchise's longest-tenured and winningest skipper, with a 437-583 record, highlighted by a 2020 NL Manager of the Year award and a playoff appearance that same year.
Mattingly joined the Philadelphia Phillies as the bench coach this year. His son, Preston Mattingly, currently serves as the team’s general manager. He took over as interim manager after the Phillies fired Rob Thompson, who had led the team to a 9-19 start. The Phillies are 3-0 since the managerial change.
Mattingly, 65, has spent each of the last 23 seasons as a coach on a major-league staff, starting with the New York Yankees as a hitting coach. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers for five seasons (2011-15) before managing the Marlins for seven seasons (2016-22).
As a player, Mattingly spent 14 seasons as a legendary first baseman for the Yankees, from 1982-95. It was a career highlighted by six All-Star appearances, nine Gold Gloves, and the 1985 American League MVP Award.
Whether it was on the field as a player or in the dugout as a coach, Mattingly didn’t make it to the World Series until last year as the bench coach with the Toronto Blue Jays. He said he got to enjoy his first World Series experience with his youngest son, Louis Mattingly.
“I think obviously that World Series run last year, he had a lot of fun, and it was a lot of fun,” Mattingly said. “It’s a lot of fun for a 10-year-old to be everywhere we go.”
That World Series run was supposed to be the end of his career in baseball, if not 2022, but his oldest son offered him a role with the Phillies and his youngest son wasn’t ready for retirement.
“And here we are, four years later,” Mattingly said. “You guys know me enough. You heard me for seven years doing these [press conferences]. I’m kind of day-to-day. I think we come here to win a game, do a job, and then we move forward without any real thoughts of trying to get too far down the road.”
Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!