PHILADELPHIA — Don Mattingly has decided that 2025 will be his last baseball season. The 1985 AL MVP and former manager would retire after one final season as bench coach in Toronto, with or without the World Series ring he has unsuccessfully pursued since his rookie season with the New York Yankees in 1983.
Mattingly reversed course during a year in which the Blue Jays won the AL pennant thanks to meaningful discussions with his son.
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No, not Preston Mattingly, the Phillies general manager who is now his father’s boss after Donnie Baseball signed a multi-year contract to serve under Rob Thomson as bench coach. Well, at least not entirely — father and son have had many conversations about the role and responsibilities of the defending NL East champion Phillies.
Give Louis Mattingly, his 11-year-old son, most of the credit for overturning his father’s decision.
“(He) was kind of like, ‘Dad, you can’t stop. You’ve got to keep going,'” Mattingly said with a laugh. “I was like, oh, I don’t know about that. But it helped change things a little bit, because I’m worried about him missing school and everything he does.”
Mattingly, 64, decided he had more to give after the Blue Jays lost the World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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Mattingly can pursue that ring by working for his son, his friend from his Yankees days in Thomson and maybe even help Bryce Harper — an MVP and first baseman like Mattingly — regain his elite form.
Mattingly, who will spend his 23rd consecutive season as a major league manager and coach, left his role as Toronto’s bench coach under manager John Schneider after the World Series.
“I felt like my mission in Toronto was, in a sense, accomplished just by helping a young manager get started, who is really talented, a really good manager,” Mattingly said. “I knew some of my work was going to be done.”
Mattingly replaced Mike Calitri, who became the Phillies’ major league field coordinator.
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“I just think we’re adding a great voice, a guy that’s got a lot of experience in this area, a great pedigree and we’re adding a really solid, solid guy to a great coaching staff,” Thomson said.
Mattingly managed the Dodgers from 2011 to 2015 and the Marlins from 2016 to 2022. He was named the 2020 NL Manager of the Year after leading the Marlins to their first playoff appearance since 2003.
He said he had no interest in directing again.
“I don’t think I have the energy for this anymore,” Mattingly said.
Mattingly played 14 seasons as a first baseman in the major leagues, all for the Yankees, from 1982 to 1995. He was a six-time American League All-Star and AL Most Valuable Player in 1985 before retiring. Mattingly captained the Yankees for his final five seasons. He never reached the postseason until 1995, when he hit .417 with a home run and six RBIs in a five-game Division Series loss to Seattle.
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Mattingly’s production had been diminished by back injuries since at least 1990, and he finished with a career .307 average, 222 home runs and 1,099 RBIs. He received only six votes from the Contemporary Era Committee and has yet to make it into the Hall of Fame in December.
“I try not to indulge in optimism,” Mattingly said. “This year I was a little optimistic. There seemed to be some kind of momentum. I told myself I’m not going to do this again.”
Philadelphia won the NL East for the second straight season and was eliminated by the Dodgers in the NL Division Series. They have reached the playoffs four straight seasons under Thomson – reaching the World Series in 2022 – but have yet to win the franchise’s first title since 2008.
The Mattinglys would like to end this streak together.
“To be able to do it with him,” Mattingly said, “would be amazing.”
