MLB Players to Tell My Kids About, Vol. 4: Don Mattingly

sses at them and regularly informs them of their laziness and lack of direction—and warns them to shape up or ship out.

She is fond of using her husband and herself as examples of what can happen if you don't "try to stake your claim in life."  When her daughter first came home from school, Mary Beth asked her why she was trying so hard to end up as a has-been housewife, wearing knock-off jewelry and trading in the recycling at the supermarket for spending money.

And one night, after swallowing a handful of her "medication" and sucking down a few martinis, Mary Beth even told her son that he was a complete loser—and that being a loser sucks.

And you know what?  She's absolutely right.
   
Nobody wants to be a loser.  Losers are unhappy people.

Losers get picked last for the team on the playground.  They get laughed at and terrorized by their peers. 

They often have trouble finding friends. And without exception, they find extreme difficulty in getting laid.

But the truth is, even losers can have their moments in the sun.

Steve Urkel was king of the nerds—but in one unforgettable episode of "Family Matters," he got to dance with Laura Winslow at the prom.  Billy Madison was a spoiled brat, sitting on his ass at his father's estate—yet eventually found the ambition to seek out a college diploma and develop the game necessary to bang Pete Sampras' wife.        

Losers have won the lottery and losers have been elected to national office.  They've become musicians, supermodels, athletes, and movie stars.

The point is universal: Sometimes, losers end up being the biggest winners.

Maybe Mary Beth should take some advice from Don Mattingly.

Donnie Baseball first played in the major leagues in 1982—a year after the Yankees lost the World Series. In all of his years with the Yanks, they would never return to the championship game.  

The "Mattingly Years" were, for all intents and purposes, some of the worst in franchise history.  In fact, their championship drought from '82–'95 was the longest since the Babe Ruth era. 

Then Mattingly retired—and within a year the Yanks were back in the Series (and as you know, they won this time).  The facts are simply undeniable: the Yankees were a bunch of losers for the majority of the time that Mattingly was on the team, but were damn good both before and after his tenure.

Thus, Mattingly was a loser in the truest sense.

But there was something about Mattingly that the fans of New York really liked.

Maybe it was his beautiful left-handed swing, or his ability to whack the long ball. Or maybe it was his defensive skills at first base—which were so impressive that Yankee management allowed him to play second and third early in his early career, even as a lefty.

Perhaps he was a fan favorite because of the way he could suddenly catch fire, or the way he came up big in clutch situations.  Who could forget 1987, when Mattingly went yard in eight consecutive games, and hit a record six grand slams? 

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