The High Court

Deep Thinkers Only...

The Donnie Baseball File

May 30, 2005

 

Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart (Yes, a judicial reference in the first sentence.  This is the High Court, after all.  If you were looking for Harry Potter or maybe Martha Stewart…move along.) once stated in a rather significant case concerning pornography that whiles the subject matter was tough to define, “I know it when I see it.”  Justice Stewart was a wise man.  The phrase “I know it when I see it” can apply to a great many things in life.  Certainly you are familiar with that old saying “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  Same sentiment.  We may not always be able to define that certain something, but we know we have found it when we see it.  I feel the same way about Hall of Fame baseball players.  There is no exact formula, no easily quantified way to select the best of the best.  Sure, we have our benchmarks of success that evolved over time:  300 wins, 3000 hits, 500 homers (oops…scratch one benchmark).  Reaching those plateaus has always ensured enshrinement.  But what do we do about the players who fail to reach those numbers?  Surely there are great performers worthy of a bust in Cooperstown that those legendary levels have eluded for one reason or another.  How do we decide?  We know them when we see them…

 

As I really began to get to know and love the game in the 1980’s, there were a host of really special performers.  George Brett, Steve Carlton, Eddie Murray, Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, and Robin Yount were just part of a group of tremendous professionals on their way to a spot in Cooperstown.  But for me, there was one figure that stood out as the finest player of the decade.  Don Mattingly.  For six years, before serious back problems slowed (and eventually ended) his career, Mattingly was a truly dominant offensive force in the American League.  He was also a game changing presence on the defensive ledger.  For most of his career, Mattingly was regarded as one of the top two defensive first basemen in the game, along with his New York counterpart, Keith Hernandez.  Now, that same dominant force barely gets any recognition at all from the Hall of Fame voters.  In 2005, New York’s beloved Donnie Baseball received only 59 votes, or 11.43 percent.  That is an absolutely ridiculous number.  And I will be happy to tell you why.

 

For six seasons (and that is six…not two or three), Don Mattingly averaged 203 hits, 43 doubles, 27 homers, and 114 rbi.  While compiling those remarkable production numbers, he managed to hit .327 over that stretch.  And this nugget might be as impressive as any when looking at Don Mattingly’s career.  During that six year span, he fanned on average of only 34 times a year.  The most he ever whiffed in a single season was 43 times, and in 1988 Mattingly struck out only 29 times in 599 at bats.  In his single greatest offensive season, 1985, Mattingly had 211 hits, 48 doubles, 35 homers, and 145 rbi (present day value, 175).  I cannot believe that any rational baseball analyst could have believed at the time there was a finer all around hitter in the game of baseball.  Certainly not the Chicken Man, Wade Boggs (the recently elected to the Hall Mr. Boggs), who was simply a terribly talented singles hitter.  And I have no desire to take anything away from Wade Boggs.  Don Mattingly was simply a superior hitter and player in his prime.  His excellence deserves reward.

 

I mentioned earlier that Mattingly was an outstanding defensive first baseman.  How outstanding?  Well, outstanding enough to win nine Gold Gloves in ten years.  And just how impressive is that total?  In Major League history, since they began giving out Gold Gloves (since ’57, I believe), only 13 men have won more Gold Gloves than Don Mattingly, and only one first baseman, the aforementioned Keith Hernandez, has done that (He has 11).  So you begin to recognize that we are talking about one of the best defensive players at his position of the past 50 years.

 

Don Mattingly finished in the top seven in AL MVP voting four times, winning the MVP in 1985.  Newly elected Hall of Famer Wade Boggs (hello, singles hitter) never finished higher than fourth in the balloting.  Mattingly was a six-time All Star (for every year of his brilliance).  He led the AL in hits, extra base hits, and total bases twice.  And he finished in the top ten in intentional walks received on seven different occasions.  Coupled with his defensive brilliance, this choice is a no-brainer.  Even for some of the hacks in the Baseball Writers Association of America (Our truly enlightened voting pool.  Did you know that this group uses the acronym BBWAA?  As if baseball is two words?  Do they think they have been covering the MLBB?  Please help.).  OK, so they aren’t all hacks…59 of them actually voted for DM this past year…

 

To close down this argument on Mr. Mattingly’s behalf, let me get back to where this argument began.  I know Don Mattingly is a Hall of Famer because I saw it with my own eyes.  And here I have been trying to talk you into it with numbers.  Well, here’s two final numbers.  Six.  Thirty.  Six is the number of brilliant years in his prime that another very special player (and a member of the Hall) put together.  That special player’s name is Sandy Koufax.  And thirty is the age at which Koufax called it a career.  Koufax was just flat out dangerous as a young pitcher, and the formative years of his career where spent trying to figure out how to harness his magnificent abilities.  But the stress on his arm, both from delivery and workload (Amazingly, Koufax exceeded 300 innings of work in three of those six premium seasons.  Read that again.  Over 300 innings.  Now my arm hurts.) ended his career at thirty.  Nevertheless, Koufax’s singular brilliance has never been forgotten, and he was rewarded with his rightful place in Cooperstown.  Despite the fact that he had won only 165 games, everyone who saw him through those six years realized they were seeing some of the best pitching in history.

 

When Don Mattingly first hit the Hall of Fame ballot, he received 145 votes, or 28.6 percent.  A player needs 75% of votes cast to gain induction.  Obviously, that starting total was not a measure of respect that I would deem appropriate, but it was a start.  But we have seen that total decline in each of his five years on the ballot, until it hit the rock bottom low of 59.  Does that mean that since 2001 (his first year on the ballot), he has become less Hall-worthy?  Or have 96 men lost their minds or their voting privileges?  It is inexplicable (although archaic Hall voting rules don’t help matters…but that is another column…coming soon).

 

Don Mattingly belongs in the Hall of Fame.  He epitomized everything that is great about baseball.  He, and players like him, provided me with the inspiration to want to be a ballplayer.  Mattingly always played the game the right way.  He was class and dignity.  And he was excellence.  Don Mattingly is still to this day one of the finest players I have ever seen.  That’s all it takes, folks.  “I know it when I see it.”

 

 

 

Contact The Chief Justice at chiefjustice@thehighcourtofsports.com.

 

 

 

 

Don Mattingly statistics courtesy of www.Baseball-Reference.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what a Hall of Famer looks like…

(yankeelegends.com)