Don Mattingly Dodger Manager A Big Red Machine Whiffle Ball Fan

Dodger Manager Don Mattingly

Don Mattingly is in his first year as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

It has to be the worst possible year to have that job.  The ownership of the team is in such dissaray because of the divorce of owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.  Major League Baseball took over the day-to-day operation of the club.

On the field the Dodgers are five games under .500 and have eight players on the disabled list with pitcher, John Garland, soon to be the ninth.

A Los Angeles beat writer asked him,"Do you feel cursed/"

"No, I feel blessed," Mattingly said with a smile.

Mattingly hails from Evansville, three hours down stream from Cincinnati and three hours upstream from St. Louis.  He graduated from Reitz Memorial High School in Evansville in 1979.  He was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 19th round.  He managed to crack the Yankees starting lineup during the days when the Yankees were investing heavily in proven free agents, making it difficult for young prospects to compete for jobs at the major league level.  In fact the Yankees parted with Hal Morris because Mattingly had a vice grip on firstbase in the Bronx.

"I grew up three hours from here.  We didn't come to Cincinnati to see games much.  We went to St. Louis but I was a Reds fan.  We used to play whiffle ball and the Big Red Machine had a lot of good lefthanded hitters.  You had to bat with the same hand as the real player did in our whiffle ball games.  I always sat Johnny Bench and played Kendall.  Dan Dreissen was always in the lineup," Mattingly said.