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| Source:Sports Productions- Donnie Baseball in New York City. |
"All rights go to Major League Baseball
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From Sports Productions
What a lot of people I don't believe understand about the 1980s New York Yankees is that they weren't losing and they weren't losers. They won 2 AL East titles, they won the American League in 1981, they had 8 winning seasons, including 6 straight from 1983-88.
If the wild card was around in the 1980s, especially with two wild cards for both leagues, the Yankees would've made the AL Playoffs at least 2-3 more times. They won more games in 1985 than the AL West champion Kansas City Royals. The same thing in 1984. They won more games than in 1987 than the AL West champion Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees were still very good, at least offensively in 1980s and Don Mattingly was their best all around player in that decade. Certainly was their best hitter on teams that included Rickey Henderson, Dave Winfield, Ken Griffey, Reggie Jackson, Don Baylor, and others. From 1984-88, the Yankees were about as good as anyone else in the American League offensively and Don Mattlingly was their leader.
The reason why I believe Don Mattlingly doesn't get the respect that he deserves as one of the best all around 1B ever, is because the back injury in 1989 not just shortened his career, but robbed him of his bat speed and power. And he didn't play of a playoff team in New York until 1995 the first season of wildcard baseball in MLB.
But without the back injury, I think there's no question that Donnie Baseball is in the Hall of Fame today. And even with the shortened career and numbers that are not as good as they would've been had he stayed healthy in what should've been the prime of his career in the early 1990s, I think he should still get serious consideration as a Hall of Famer today. Because there's no question that he's one of the 3 best all around 1B certainly in the 1980s to go along with Eddie Murray and Keith Hernandez. And one of the best all around players from that decade.
