What to know about Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly, from ‘Donnie Baseball’ roots to a classic ‘Simpsons’ cameo

Next man up.

On Tuesday, the Phillies announced the dismissal of manager Rob Thomson after the team started off 9-19. Since being elevated to manager in June 2022, Thompson amassed a 355-270 record and four consecutive playoff appearances. In his place, bench coach Don Mattingly will take over on an interim basis.

The Phillies hired Mattingly, 65, this offseason, and he brought an extensive resumé with him. As a player, he starred at first base for the Yankees for 14 seasons before turning to coaching. He has spent 12 years as a manager, first working for the Los Angeles Dodgers and then the Miami Marlins.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Phillies’ new (interim) manager …

Mattingly was selected by the Yankees in the 19th round of the 1979 draft, but the lefty from Evansville, Ind., would not make his major league debut until the end of the 1982 season. The following year, he appeared in 91 games.

Then, during the 1984 season, the 23-year old broke out. Mattingly was selected to the All-Star Game in each of the next six years. He was named the American League MVP after the 1985 season. That season, he led the league with 145 RBIs alongside 211 hits and 35 home runs.

Mattingly — nicknamed “Donnie Baseball” — was better known for his defense, winning nine Gold Glove Awards. However, despite playing for baseball’s winningest team for nearly a decade and a half, Mattingly never won a championship as a player.

» READ MORE: Thank fired Phillies manager Rob Thomson for all the winning but don’t blame him for the flawed roster | Marcus Hayes

After retiring from playing, Mattingly quickly turned to coaching.

From 1997 to 2003, he served as a special instructor for the Yankees during spring training in Tampa, Fla. He was elevated to hitting coach in 2004, staying in the role for three seasons. After he was not promoted to Yankees manager in 2008 despite an opening — the team instead hired Joe Girardi — Mattingly looked to Los Angeles.

With the Dodgers, Mattingly served as hitting coach for two seasons before being named the club’s manager in 2010. From 2011-25, he amassed a 446-363 record with the Dodgers. His Los Angeles tenure was highlighted by one NLCS appearance in 2013.

Shortly after his firing from the Dodgers, Mattingly was hired by the Marlins. With Miami, he went 443-587 — the most wins ever by any Marlins manager. Through seven seasons, however, Mattingly’s Marlins boasted just one winning campaign. That year came in 2020, when the MLB season was shortened to just 60 games. With the Marlins finishing 31-29, Mattingly was named National League manager of the year.

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As a manager, he looks to draw from his playing days and work as a partner with the players.

“The one thing I’ve tried to always do is never forget how hard the game is,” Mattingly said in January. “Guys make a lot of money, and we expect them to come through all the time, and that’s just not that way. … I’m always going to try to be myself [in] any role that I’ve played, as a coach or a hitting coach or manager, I feel like I’m here to help players. I’m here to serve, help them get the best out of their ability.”

Yes, Don Mattingly is the father of Phillies general manager Preston Mattingly.

With the elder Mattingly being elevated to the team’s interim manager, a bit of history was made. The Phillies now boast the first father-son manager and GM combination in MLB history.

Mattingly has said he wanted to spend more time with his family, which includes a young son, and did not want to manage anymore, at least on a full-time basis. As a player, he retired at 34 to spend time with his children, including Preston.

» READ MORE: Where does Rob Thomson rank among Phillies managers? His numbers put him in some elite company.

“I still felt like I could play. But the biggest thing for me, it was like, when we were home, when I was at our house in New Jersey, it felt like I was in a hotel room,” Mattingly told Inquirer reporter Scott Lauber in June during an episode of Phillies Extra with Preston. “All I was doing was going to the ballpark, coming back, going to the ballpark, coming back.

“And so, I still enjoyed the playing part and being around the guys in the locker room, but Preston’s older brother, Taylor and him, they were kind of getting to that age — I think Taylor was getting ready to go into high school … and I just felt like I needed to be home. I was missing a lot.”

For longtime fans of The Simpsons, Mattingly’s name — or his old haircut — may ring a bell.

In Season 3, Episode 7 of the long-running Fox cartoon, Mattingly was recruited alongside other MLB stars to play on the Springfield power plant’s softball team, which was coached by series antagonist Mr. Burns. Mattingly voiced himself in the episode.

Mr. Burns, who bet $1 million that his team could beat another plant’s softball squad, famously took issue with Mattingly’s haircut, pestering the MVP to “get rid of those sideburns.”

Mr. Burns’ disapproval of Mattingly’s sideburns likely stems from a real-life event. In 1991, Mattingly was famously benched by Yankees manager Stump Merrill for refusing to cut his mullet. The Yankees had long boasted an appearance policy for their players that was recently relaxed.

» READ MORE: Source: Alex Cora content being ‘full-time dad’ over managing Phillies or any other team this year

During Mattingly’s appearance on Phillies Extra, Lauber asked him what he is asked about more often: playing for former Yankees owner George Steinbrenner or that Simpsons episode?

“Oh, 100%, The Simpsons, for sure, for sure,” Mattingly responded. “There was not a lot that went into it. Me and [Yankees teammate] Steve Sax were in California. We had an off day. They sent a car for us. They take us to this little studio. You do the lines. Nobody’s around. It’s like going in and doing a radio thing, right? And that’s it. And then it turned into years and years, obviously of hearing it back from people.”