In the 1980s the Yankees weren’t always good. But they did always have Don Mattingly, a power hitting, high average, great glove first basemen. For his career he hit .307/.358/.471 with 222 homers and 1099 RBIs, 2153 hits and 1007 runs scored.

But in the early 80s he was a superstar hitting .327/.372/.530 averaging 46 doubles, 29 homers, 122 RBIs, 103 runs scored and 213 hits. He was a 6 consecutive all star and won an MVP in 1985 when he hit basically the same as his number for the decade.

But for the last five years of his career he was a different hitter hitting .286/.345/.405 averaging 13 homers and 81 RBIs. Not terrible numbers but for a first basemen especially one in New York this wasn’t good enough. His defense continued at a high level though as he won 4 gold gloves in that time. Don Mattingly made the Yankees watchable in the 80s but he had to go for the next Yankees super teams to succeed. Thanks for reading.