PORT ST. LUCIE – He was 34. The beloved captain of his New York team. Good enough early in his career to climb onto a Hall of Fame track. Felled on the back end by a back condition that robbed skill, ability to regularly get on the field and ultimately passion.
Don Mattingly left the game, he explained first in 1995 and again Thursday before his Marlins played the Mets, because his two boys had grown old enough to have their own lives and stopped coming to stay with him in New Jersey during the season, and he did not want their complete childhood to slip from his grasp.