Don Mattingly Batting Title

Lore & Background

A six-time All-Star, Mattingly led the American League in doubles three consecutive years, and in hits and total bases twice each. After winning the AL batting title with a .343 mark in his first full season in 1984, he was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1985 after hitting .324 with 145 runs batted in (RBI). The following year, he was runner-up for the MVP award after batting .352, leading the AL in hits, doubles, slugging percentage and total bases; his 53 doubles and 388 total bases were the highest totals by any major league player in the 1980s, and his totals of doubles and 238 hits remain Yankees franchise records.

In 1987 he tied a major league record by hitting home runs in eight consecutive games, and later that year set another record by hitting six grand slams in one season. Congenital back problems forced him to miss part of the 1990 season. After being named the team's captain in 1991, he enjoyed a resurgence in productivity, leading the Yankees in RBI, hits, doubles, runs scored and batting average in 1992. He helped lead the team to first place in 1994, batting .304, only to have the playoffs cancelled due to a work stoppage.

He finally reached the postseason in his final season in 1995, but New York lost the Division Series in five games although Mattingly batted .417 with a home run and four doubles. Regarded as one of the greatest defensive first basemen in history, Mattingly won a league-record nine Gold Glove Awards, leading the AL in fielding percentage seven times. He retired with the highest career fielding percentage (.996) in league history, since broken by Mark Teixeira.

After batting over .300 seven times, Mattingly retired with a career average of .307. The Yankees retired his uniform number (23) in 1997.