Baseball has taken on a new meaning for Don Mattingly, who was named the Philadelphia Phillies’ new bench coach on Monday. This appointment brings him into the same organization where his son, Preston Mattingly, serves as general manager.
“When Preston and I get together, it seems like we’ll talk about the kids for a little bit and we’ll talk about whatever, and it always ends up baseball at the end of it,” Don Mattingly said. “[Talking] about this guy or that guy, ‘What do you think about this? What do you think about that?’ So, it’s pretty cool in that sense.”
The decision to continue coaching was influenced by another family member. Don Mattingly explained that his youngest son, Louis, played a key role in encouraging him to stay involved in baseball. “As the season went on, I think as much as anything, my youngest — Louis, who just turned 11 — was kind of like, ‘Dad, you can’t stop. You’ve got to keep going,’” he said. “And I was like, ‘Uhh, I don’t know about this.’”
He added: “It’s kind of crazy to listen to an 11-year-old, but just his feelings on all of that [matter], because he’s paying a price for everything that I do in this,” he said. “Your kids pay that price of you being gone, him in school, moving back and forth — it all puts him in a different spot.”
Don Mattingly’s career includes 14 years playing with the New York Yankees before moving into coaching roles with several teams including the Yankees (as hitting coach), Dodgers (manager from 2011-15), Marlins (manager from 2016-22), and most recently as bench coach for the Blue Jays.
Despite decades in professional baseball as player and coach or manager—nearly 40 years—Mattingly is still seeking his first World Series title. He came close last season with Toronto before their loss to Los Angeles.
“Obviously, the Preston factor, I think having that opportunity is interesting to be able to work alongside him,” Mattingly said. “Like last year, it was like, ‘I hope we play Philly in the World Series,’ so we could go head to head with him. But now, it’s nice to be on the same team.”
“To be able to do it with him would be incredible,” Don said.
There are challenges ahead given their father-son relationship within an MLB front office structure led by executives such as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Preston Mattingly [source]. Don noted concerns over potential conflicts: “The other side was something that I was concerned about right away,” he acknowledged. “I talked with [president of baseball operations] Dave [Dombrowski] about that. Preston is kind of at the beginning of his career, I’m at the end of my career – so I don’t want this to be a negative in any way for him.”
Dombrowski addressed these concerns during Winter Meetings when adding Don Mattingly to staff was discussed.
Don emphasized building trust within the clubhouse: “I’m very protective of the locker room relationship. With players, they have to be able to trust that I’m not a voice that’s just running upstairs and talking about anything and everything,” he said. “That’s just not the way I operate. I came from a different era where that is not something that happens. I’m going to have to build that trust with players so that they’ll trust me that that’s not going to happen.”
The Phillies are one of Major League Baseball’s oldest franchises dating back to 1883 [source], serving fans regionally and nationally through games at Citizens Bank Park since 2004 [source]. The team has won World Series titles in 1980 and 2008 [source].
At present everyone—from manager Rob Thomson through players—shares one objective: winning another championship.
“I have committed to a couple of years with ‘Thomps’ and just go from there,” Mattingly said. “I’m assuming that would be it for me, but you never say never.”
Plus—as Don pointed out—he will check with Louis first.
