JETER & MATTINGLY: SIMILAR YET DIFFERENT

Not sure how many people saw this but I thought it was worth telling ya’ll. Derek Jeter won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award. A classy award for a classy guy no doubt, Congrats to Derek Jeter. Read about it HERE.

The Lou Gehrig Award is given to ballplayer that best exemplifies his character and integrity both on and off the field. There is no better guy than Derek Jeter to win that award this year. The Captain is the best, no doubt. Past winners are guys like Albert Pujols, Trevor Hoffman, Tony Gwynn and Ernie Banks...among others. Derek apparently won this award for the 2^nd consecutive time which is kind of cool. Then I got to thinking about another captain. Don Mattingly was constantly presenting himself as a leader both on and off the field, much like Derek Jeter and Lou Gehrig and all the others on this list. I was curious... I needed to find out if Donnie Baseball ever won... I mean, the award may not be something that’s very popular, but there is no doubt it’s important and special. So I searched the list. I noticed something interesting... Mattingly did win... in 1993. Nice. Strangely, I was relieved.

Don Mattingly is by far one of the most iconic Yankees ever. Sure, Derek Jeter is just as iconic to us, and Jeet’s won a ton of championships and awards. But Mattingly didn’t, in fact, the poor guy’s career was cut short, and he never won a championship, yet his numbers are there.

.307 / 222 HR / .358 OBP / .471 SLG / 2153 H / .83o OPS in 14 Seasons

One thing I told my kids of Derek Jeter is he’ll make it into the Hall of Fame. When they asked me about Don Mattingly, well, in my heart, I believe he deserves it...somehow. He did it naturally, he did it hard and he did it with true heart and leadership, but the real answer is, I just don't know how they will vote for Mattingly down the road. I feel like he’s been overshadowed and he never won a championsip. I believe deep in my heart, the committee looks at that too, as well as his numbers. Maybe one day though, in my lifetime, maybe because of this PEDs controversey, Don Mattingly will rise in the ranks of eligible ballplayers that could be voted into the Hall of Fame. Maybe one year, the committee will look at the list of guys and say “You know what? Donnie did it like a throwback. Donnie’s got good numbers. No, he didn’t play 20 years, but he played long enough to prove to everyone that he loved this game and respected it." Maybe then, he’ll get voted in. Maybe then, they'll start to give him a long, hard look. (Wait... how the hell did get here from the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award? Ok, let me get back on track. See... my mind wonders.)

Back to Derek. Oddly, Derek Jeter and Don Mattingly remind me of each other, yet their paths are totally different. It’s funny how my mind works when it comes to my Yankees. I guess I’m just smitten by the Yankee greats. Anyway, enough with my rant. Congrats Derek, way to go pal.

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