For Don Mattingly, his 39 years in professional baseball warrant acclaim. Some would say his 14-year playing career deserves a call from Cooperstown.
Nearly four decades in the game was a long enough career that the soon-to-be 65-year-old felt comfortable hanging up the proverbial cleats after the 2025 season. A decision that was made by the former slugging first baseman prior to the Toronto Blue Jays’ unexpected run to the World Series, where he was the bench coach.
However, this winter, “Donnie Baseball” got a nudge from an unexpected supporter to stick around a little longer.
His 11-year-old son, Louie.
“He just turned and said, ‘Dad, you can’t stop. You got to keep going.’”
“I was like, I don’t know about this,” Mattingly laughingly said when talking to the media over Zoom Monday afternoon.
Mattingly knew he had to sit down with his family and discuss the possibility of continuing to coach. It was a conversation that he had to have with his wife, Lori, and Louie about.
Working in baseball is a demanding profession. Starting in February with spring training and, for Mattingly’s case, not ending until the first day of November last season after he fell one win shy of winning his first championship in his career. It’s essentially an everyday job that takes you away from your loved ones for long stretches of time spanning anywhere from eight to ten months.
“It took me a little bit. Part of it was just making sure the family was good,” Mattingly said.
“Getting Louie’s input, which is kind of crazy listening to an 11-year-old, but to get his feelings on it because he’s paying the price with me being gone, putting him in a different school, that was something I had to make sure I was ready for.”
After the Mattinglys agreed it wasn’t time for Don to call it quits just yet, that’s when Phillies’ manager Rob Thomson’s interest piqued.
Mattingly and Thomson, whom Mattingly calls “Thoms,” have a strong relationship dating back to their days together on Joe Torre’s staff with the New York Yankees in the 2000s.
“The years working with Thoms, I mean, unbelievable,” Mattingly recalled.
“I started off working camps. Thoms is running camp, and I was just a first-year coach, and it was so organized. Being able to work alongside him in the cage, just having the respect for the work ethic. He’s done everything in the game. You respect people who have worked their way through and have done a lot of jobs.”
The Phillies skipper had a list of guys who had success on the field and in the dugout at the major league level that were considered candidates for the position. However, Mattingly was at the top.
“Dave and I have been talking about hiring a guy like Donnie with that pedigree,” Thomson said.
“With as great as our staff is, we don’t have a guy that was a star in the big leagues and should be in the Hall of Fame, as far as I’m concerned. When it came to me there was a possibility that Donnie would be available, I thought this could be a perfect fit.”
Thomson, a month removed from receiving a one-year extension through the 2027 season after leading the Phillies to a fourth straight postseason appearance, believes that Mattingly can be an integral piece to an already talented coaching staff.
“I know the integrity, the knowledge; I know how detailed he is. Plus, he’s a great sounding board for our players and stars because he’s done all of these things. The rest of us can’t answer to that. This is a huge deal. I am so excited to have Donnie. It’s going to be a great addition to our staff.”
Mattingly appreciated the interest expressed by the organization.
“Talking with Dave [Dombrowski] and having someone that wants you and explaining what he thought I can bring to the table. This is a great club to start with, having 95-96 wins last year, going to a good club, Thoms I worked with, K-Long [Kevin Long] I worked with, Edwar [Gonzalez] I worked with in Miami. It was nice to be wanted.”
Mattingly insinuated that he will be donning the red pinstripes beyond the 2026 season, although the specifics are not known, as the Phillies don’t publicly announce contractual terms for their coaching staff and front office members.
“I have committed to a couple years with Thoms and just go from there. I’m assuming that would be it for me. I’ve said that a few times already, but you never say never.
The former Yankee captain did say he more than likely will never manage again, squashing any potential ideas that he would become Thomson’s successor.
“I see the energy it takes to deal with the media twice a day, have conversations with the players, deal with the front office; it never really stops. I’m assuming Rob’s phone is ringing at home in the offseason,” Mattingly said.
“I look at myself and say I don’t think I have the energy to do that anymore. It took me a little bit to see if I was ready for this. Dave called, and I was exhausted from the season. It took a little bit to say, "Okay, I can do this; I’m ready for it." "I don’t have any aspirations to manage again.”
While his youngest son pushed his dad to continue working in the sport that has provided Don and his family so much, Mattingly’s older son, Preston, the Phillies’ general manager, will be overseeing his father’s impact on the team.
A relationship and situation that the new bench coach Mattingly was initially wary about at first but wants to ensure his new players won’t get entangled with clubhouse confidentiality.
“I’m very protective of the locker room relationship with players,” Mattingly said.
“They have to be able to trust that I’m not a voice running upstairs talking about anything and everything. I came from a different era. That is something that happens. I have to build that trust from players. They have to trust me that’s not going to happen.”
It’s a pairing that could potentially write its own storybook if the Phillies can win their first World Series title since 2008, ending the team’s drought and, in turn, Mattingly's 22-year journey to finally reach the top of the baseball mountain as a player, manager, or coach.
“To be able to win a title with him would be incredible,” Mattingly said.
