Don Mattingly And The Big Red Machine

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Marlins' manager Don Mattingly grew up in Evansville, Indiana a three hour drive from Great American Ball Park.   He was a Reds fan.

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His father was a working man and Don only saw one Major League game while growing up, well two.  He went to St. Louis with the Evansville Little League and saw the Reds play the Evansville Triple A team for an exhibition game.

Evansville is roughly half way between Cincinnati and St. Louis.

"I would follow them on TV on the game of the week. We didn't have MLB Network," Mattingly said.  "When you're 12 you don't listen to games, you're out playing."

When Mattingly played whiffle ball with his brothers and friends, he hat to bat from the side of the plate of the player he was pretending to be.

"My favorite was Ken Griffey......Senior and my lineup was filled with lefthanders, Griffey, Joe Morgan, Cesar Geronimo, Pete Rose, Driessan and all those guys..  When I played it was George Foster's turn to sit," Mattingly said.

By not sitting in doors listening to Joe Nuxhall and Marty Brennaman, Mattingly developed some Major League skills which brought him to the New York Yankees as Griffey's teammate in 1983.

Mattingly was 22 when he broke into the Major Leagues, while Griffey Sr was 33 at the time.

On Star Wars weekend he was asked if he watched the Star Wars movies.

"I did not watch Star Wars.  I played three sports.  I didn't have time for that," Mattingly explained.