Don Mattingly was an American professional baseball player for the New York Yankees from his debut on September 8, 1982 and his final game on October 1, 1995. Mattingly mostly played at first base, but occasionally played as an outfielder. Don Mattingly was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 19th round of the 1979 MLB June Amateur Draft from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville, Indiana. He was only in the minors for 2 years before being called up on September 8, 1982. Don Mattingly had a career batting average of .307 becoming the 1984 AL Batting Champion prompting some to refer to him as “The Hit Man”. In 1985 Mattingly led the league with 145 runs batted in (RBI) and was voted the American League MVP. Mattingly made the All-Star team 6 times in his career. 

Don Mattingly was born with a congenital defect which caused soreness when hitting, causing many injuries throughout his career that eventually cut his career short. In 1986 Mattingly broke Earle Combs single season hit record (231 hits) with 238 hits and Lou Gehrig’s single season doubles record (52 double’s) with 53 doubles. During 1986, Mattingly also recorded 388 stolen bases and batted .352. In 1987 had 8 consecutive games with a homerun, tying Dale Long’s MLB record. During that same season Mattingly hit 6 grand slams; those would be his only grand slams of his career.

 In 1990 Mattingly was put onto the injured list due to back problems and his season batting average dipped to .256 with 5 home runs. The remainder of his career was riddled with back injuries from batting .290 in his final 5 seasons. Mattingly served as the Yankee Captain from 1991 to 1995. In 1994 Mattingly had a .304 batting average but was cut short due to the 1994 MLB strike which ended the season. 1995 would be Mattingly’s last season, still having not made it to the playoffs, but that would change when the Yankees made it to the AL wild card game against the Seattle Mariners. For the first time in his career he had made it to the playoffs, but unfortunately the Yankees lost and were eliminated from the postseason. 

The Yankees signed first baseman Tino Martinez to succeed Don Mattingly before the 1996 season. Don Mattingly officially retired in 1997. “The Hit Man” Don Mattingly had his number 23 retired by the Yankees in 1997.