EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) – Don Mattingly had quite the year in 2025, capped off with a trip to the world series.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be able to win a few rounds and get to the World Series, incredible feeling, obviously I\u2019ve never experienced that before… exhilarating,\u201d said Don Mattingly.<\/p>\n
And even with the second longest postseason game in MLB history, 18 innings in game 3, the Fall Classic was finished in a flash.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour season comes to a crash landing, because even up to the last at-bat, Kirk is up, we\u2019re down a run, one out. Kirk is going to get this run in. It\u2019s going to happen. Then a pitch later, the season is over.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Blue Jays lost the World Series in 7 games, Don Mattingly parted ways with the organization. The first question for him, not what\u2019s next, but will there be a next.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll year long I was expecting it to be it. As Lori and I talked about the season, I felt like the time in Toronto was going to be enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don and his wife were on the same page, but it was their 11-year old son, Louie, who wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cLouie was like, \u2018Dad, you can\u2019t stop. You\u2019ve got to keep going.\u2019 He loved it, he got to experience the World Series in a way that probably no kid, other than player\u2019s kids, get to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so, to start 2026, Mattingly announced he\u2019s headed to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sign with the Phillies, and you\u2019re back in action there, and you reunite with another son, Preston. Are you excited to go back and reunite with family,\u201d said Max Parker.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be on the same team and be after the same goal. He\u2019s been telling me what to do for a long time. When he was in San Diego, and I was in Miami, he was like, \u2018Dad you\u2019ve got to pick up this guy, pick up this player.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018Preston, I\u2019m not the general manager.\u2019 He\u2019s been telling me what to do for awhile, and now, pretty much, he\u2019s my boss.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next chapter of Don\u2019s legacy is just around the corner. It\u2019s already quite the legacy, but one that fell just short once again of being inducted into the hall of fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one, I think because of the World Series, and it came up right away, and all the talk about it, I think I got more hopeful, so disappointed when it didn\u2019t happen, but then, by the end of the night, grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don says the Hall of Fame wouldn\u2019t change much. He\u2019s used his platform for good, with Mattingly Charities, helping kids in his hometown of Evansville. And it\u2019s safe to say, he\u2019s left his mark on baseball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want people to when they think about me, I want them to think about baseball. The fact it just says \u2018Donnie Baseball\u2019 is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Don says the hall of fame wouldn\u2019t change much. He\u2019s used his platform for good, with Don Mattingly Charities, helping kids in his hometown of Evansville, and it\u2019s safe to say, he\u2019s left his mark on baseball.<\/p>\n
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