INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana baseball legend is finally making a trip to the World Series.
Evansville native Don Mattingly played 14 seasons in the major leagues, all with the New York Yankees, but was never part of the Fall Classic. The 64-year-old currently serves as the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays, which clinched their first American League pennant since 1993 with a Game 7 win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.
Mattingly led the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Blue Jays opponent in this year’s World Series, to the playoffs three times as manager, but the Dodgers lost twice in the divisional round and dropped the 2013 National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals in six games. He was named National League Manager of the Year in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, leading the Miami Marlins to the National League Division Series, where they were swept by the Atlanta Braves in three games.
The Reitz High School graduate hit .307 in his major league career, winning then 1984 batting title, earning MVP honors in 1985, while collecting nine All-Star appearances and nine Gold Gloves.
But the Yankees, who appeared in four World Series from 1976 to 1981, the year before Mattingly’s arrival, did not return to the championship series until 1996, beating the Braves for the title the season after the star first baseman’s retirement. He did hit .417 with a homerun and six RBI in his only postseason appearance in 1995, but New York lost to Seattle in five games in the best-of-five American League Division Series.
This year’s World Series starts Friday night in Toronto, with the Blue Jays hosting two games before shifting to Los Angeles on Monday night.
“The feeling of fighting to get there is so tense. So, yes I’m going to enjoy it. It’s been really fun,” Mattingly said after the Blue Jays clinched the American League title.