Don Mattingly turned 50 today, which for any Yankee fan growing up in the 1980s is a little startling. Although the team suffered through one of its longest championship droughts during Mattingly’s tenure, Donnie Baseball was still able to capture the hearts of an entire generation, so it’s hard to think of him as being a relic from an another era.
During his playing career, Mattingly’s birthday was always easy to remember because it seemed as if he never quite got going until after it passed. Long before Mark Teixeira became famous for his early season struggles, Mattingly turned slow starts into an art form. Whether he was in his prime or toward the end of his career, April was usually a frustrating time for Mattingly.
If it seems as if the Yankees have been through this before with Mattingly, it’s because they have. Everyone knows what to expect now, a plodding start followed by a fast summer. If it’s cold, so is Mattingly. Even in his magic years, Mattingly was no better than an ordinary April hitter.” – John Heyman, Newsday, April 19, 1994
Mattingly, Month by Month
Split | PA | R | HR | RBI | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
April/March | 1001 | 124 | 11 | 122 | 0.266 | 0.338 | 0.381 | 0.719 |
May | 1248 | 172 | 41 | 185 | 0.325 | 0.380 | 0.502 | 0.882 |
June | 1290 | 163 | 34 | 173 | 0.307 | 0.351 | 0.449 | 0.800 |
July | 1349 | 189 | 42 | 195 | 0.324 | 0.367 | 0.508 | 0.875 |
August | 1341 | 176 | 45 | 199 | 0.309 | 0.358 | 0.487 | 0.845 |
Sept/Oct | 1492 | 183 | 49 | 225 | 0.305 | 0.352 | 0.477 | 0.829 |
Source: Baseball-reference.com