Don Mattingly On Derek Jeter
By Billy Brost
From one captain to the other, it really doesn’t matter. Don Mattingly understands all too well the burden of being the face of a franchise, one that has been more celebrated than any other in professional sports history. Unlike Derek Jeter however, Donnie Baseball, as he is most well known, failed to bring even one World Series crown to the Bronx, even though his Yankees’ teams of the 1980s won more games than any other franchise. A slew of managerial changes, inconsistency on the roster, and the last real version of the Bronx Zoo, led by George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin themselves, guaranteed Mattingly never would see a ring.
Mattingly made it to October baseball just once, with a non-active rookie Jeter sitting on the bench and rooting him on, as his Yankees fell to the Seattle Mariners in a five-game heartbreaker in 1995. Mattingly’s era ended that night in Seattle, and the next spring, Jeter’s began.
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Last Thursday, as millions were watching every move that the now 40-year-old Jeter made during his final innings in pinstripes, the former teammate, Captain, and coach was also watching, taking it all in:
"“I was at my wife’s nephew’s house, having dinner, and we’re kind of watching the game, and they’re up 5-2…I caught the at-bat before and thought that was going to be the last one. And then the two-run homer and then the other homer, and I’m like, ‘Really?’ And then he’s the third hitter, and it’s like, ‘Is this really happening? It was perfect.” (Don Mattingly to Michael Lananna, MLB.com)"
Mattingly and Jeter also shared some common links. Both played for Buck Showalter, while Mattingly coached for Joe Torre in both New York and Los Angeles, while Jeter played most of his career for Torre, and then Joe Girardi. Mattingly sent Jeter a message early in the week of Jeter’s final few games, wishing him luck. The torch has been officially extinguished, as the last active Yankees’ player who was a teammate of Mattingly’s, is now gone.
"“I kind of think about Derek as a young kid, seeing him in Spring Training … and just seeming so far from the big leagues at that moment, and then just kind of seeing him in the years to come, how he changed so fast…And really, as the years go on, I feel like I helped bring him along, and then at the end of it, he’s really the one doing the teaching. He’s had an amazing career, and I’m just really happy for him.”"