Reese Kaplan -- Time to Say Goodbye to a New York Legend

As each baseball season comes to an end there are the inevitable and unenviable "last game" commemorations of players destined for greatness in memory only but no longer on the playing field.  The Mets recently visited Oakland were Stephen Vogt announced his retirement.  While not exactly Johnny Bench during his playing career, he chose to end it where pretty much where it all began for him at San Francisco's crosstown rival.  Still, the team is going through the motions of honoring the man for his many years in professional baseball and after his age 37 season he's calling it quits.

What isn't exactly parallel is the last hurrah for baseball managers.  We all love 'em or hate 'em based upon how well the team performs under their leadership.  Sometimes a manager will float from team to team, demonstrating more his skills at a job interview than his ability to motivate his players to perform at a higher level.  An example would be the late John McNamara who called six teams his managerial employer and finished his career with a losing record, though he did demonstrate an ability with the right players as he finished in first place 4 times during his 20-year managerial helm.  

Occasionally a manager will start off with great potential and as such will make himself highly appealing to other ballclubs when he is ready to make a career change (or after he is terminated by his current employer).  One of this realm of superlative beginners was a true superstar in his playing career -- Don Mattingly.   

There's a common belief that terrific players don't make good managers because they cannot relate to the struggles of younger players not quite delivering at the level they could.  Folks can name many, many superstar players who learned that being a manager is a very different endeavor.  Yes, some superstars did succeed while wearing the mantle of team manager.  Yogi Berra was one example of a guy who was able to make that transition quite well.    Don Mattingly looked to be starting off in the same mold.

Initially hired by the Los Angeles Dodgers to lead them in the Western Division.  Many had high hopes for such a conspicuous hire despite him never having managed before at the major league level.  In his rookie season at Chavez Ravine he led the club to a third place finish, going over .500 at 82-79.  While that's not a pennant winning metric, it was a great showing for someone learning on the job.

In his sophomore campaign back in 2012 Mattingly improved incrementally.  His record this time was 86-76, good for second place in the division.  The trend was moving in the right direction and the Dodger faithful had to feel the best was yet to come.  

Mattingly then in 2013 to 2015 ran off an impressive string of three straight first place finishes.  You really can't get much better than that unless you are counting the October record more than the one from April through September.  After losing to the New York Mets in five games in 2015 it was agreed by both the Dodgers front office and manager Don Mattingly that it was time for a change and he parted ways.

So when you start off your career with five seasons with a high profile team and a managerial record of 446-363 after a Hall of Fame type of playing career, you can well imagine there would be a long line of suitors who would like to see him with the lineup pencil in their dugout.  Strange as it may seem, Mattingly made the seemingly curious decision to go from the top to the bottom, inking a four-year contract to lead the perennially struggling Marlins.  You can see the rationale easily from the team's side.  Was it the money or the challenge that motivated Mattingly to take this job rather than one with a team closer to postseason contention?

Well, that four years in Miami turned into seven and he had a losing record to rival Terry Collins.  He is finishing up his stint in south Florida with a record thus far of 437-584 with 9 games left to play.  Marlins GM Kim Ng felt that it was time for the team to make a change after Mattingly's long streak of losing.  He did finish in second place twice and third place once, but for the most part he's been hugging the bottom of the division with two fourth place finishes and two fifth place finishes.  At age 61 he's not likely to learn any new tricks and with a seven year record of futility to accompany his age, he may not any longer be at the top of anyone's list to lead their teams.  The Mets can say goodbye this week while facing Mattingly's team.

In a way you have to feel bad for a guy who gave his all for the sport he loved.  As a player, he's ponderously not yet in the Hall of Fame despite having a .307 career batting average to go along with seasons of 35 HRs and 145 RBIs.  To be truthful, his prime was relatively short, having finished with impressive numbers from 1984 through 1989, but then his power and run production went on hiatus as he began to face some health woes.  Apparently Gold Glove defense is not enough to sway the voters.  When he hung them up, he had 222 HRs and 1099 RBIs, nice numbers but apparently not considered among the elite.  Even though his offensive and defensive exploits helped the crosstown rivals, he was known as a New York baseball star and now that his second career as a manager is coming to an end, you really need to take off you cap and salute him for all that he's done.