Don Mattingly's profound baseball career profiled in MLB Network Presents: Donnie Baseball

New documentary premieres Sunday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. ET; Watch trailer here.

Wade Boggs, George Brett, Ron Guidry, Buck Showalter, Hal Steinbrenner, Joe Torre and Bernie Williams describe what makes Mattingly one of the most beloved and respected players of his generation

March 24, 2022 - It has been 27 years since Don Mattingly wore the New York Yankees pinstripes as a player, but there remains a certain emotion that comes out of Yankees fans whenever his name is mentioned. It is a feeling that is still hard to describe all these years later, but as Mattingly, now the Miami Marlins manager, prepares for the 2022 season, MLB Network will look back at the movie-like career of baseball’s “hit man” in Donnie Baseball, the latest installment of the MLB Network Presents documentary series, premiering Sunday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. ET. From his home in Evansville, Indiana, Mattingly speaks candidly about his baseball life and what drove him to be considered by many as MLB’s best player for a six-year period from 1984 through 1989. Being the only Yankee ever to have his number retired that didn’t win a World Series, Mattingly reflects on what could have been if his back held up by saying, “Am I disappointed in my own career? Yeah, parts of it, I am. Parts of it, I’m very proud of. Parts of it, I’m not because I don’t feel like I was good enough as I should have been. I should have learned quicker to not beat my body up, and if I did less, I could perform better.” Fast forward and Mattingly, the 2020 NL Manager of the Year, still carries the same burning desire to reach the Fall Classic for the first time as he teaches his players how to be the best they can be. A trailer of Donnie Baseball can be viewed here.

The program details Mattingly’s transformation from what Buck Showalter described was a “gangly, kind of long-necked [player] that kept the bat in the zone a long time,” to a baseball superstar who captured a batting title and an AL MVP award by his fourth season. Mattingly’s relationship with the late George M. Steinbrenner IIIis explored, from Steinbrenner threatening to trade him in the spring of 1989 to naming him team captain in 1991. Despite the back flareups which constantly plagued the later stages of his career, the program highlights how Mattingly was an influential force behind the Yankees’ revitalization that reached full throttle by 1994 and into 1995. After stating in the film that he would have retired in 1994 if there was no strike, Mattingly plays on to experience one of the Yankees’ most dramatic Postseason moments – hitting a go-ahead home run in Game 2 of the 1995 ALDS at a rocking Yankee Stadium in his first-ever Postseason game, 14 years in the making. With his family as his number one priority, Mattingly gets emotional about the decision to retire following the 1995 season, recalling how his parents were always there for him growing up. Looking back on his career, Mattingly’s says in the film that he only really cared about earning the respect of his peers saying, “I wanted George Brett to think I was a good player.” Brett responds by saying, “If I’m going to be in a foxhole, who do I want with me? Playing against Don Mattingly, he was the guy. In my mind, he’s a Hall of Famer.”

To speak to Mattingly’s iconic work ethic, the bond he shared with New York City, and his everlasting impact on the game, the film features new interviews with Showalter, Brett, New York Yankees Managing General Partner Hal Steinbrenner, Hall of Famer Wade Boggs, four-time World Series Champion Bernie Williams, two-time World Series Champion Ron Guidry, former Yankees teammate Mike Pagliarulo, New York Yankees and YES Network’s television voice Michael Kay, New York Yankees and WFAN’s radio voice Suzyn Waldman, New York Post baseball columnist Joel Sherman, Mattingly’s high school coach Quentin Merkel and Hall of Fame voter Jay Jaffe.

Launched in 2015, the MLB Network Presents series has produced programs covering many subjects across baseball, including Tatis: The Rise of El Ni?o,Junior,The Story of Billy Bean_, _Bench,Eck: A Story of Saving_, _Only in Hollywood_, _Mr. Padre_, _Billy_, _The Swingin' A's_, _Mike Trout: Millville to MVP and The Bird. MLB Network programming is available for live, authenticated steaming via the MLB app and MLBNetwork.com.