Donnie Baseball Whale - Reeled In!

[ALR-bishop]

Special edition Topps single card issue. Here is mine, freed from Bondage. Although if mine were in a 10 I guess I would leave it there too

[JBird]

man look at those stats. if only the guy never had any back issues.

[KCRfan1]

As most of us do, I remember Mattingly busting on to the scene. What a player! The owner of the card shop I would go to back in the day, told me of a customer who only bought ( invested ) Mantles and Mattinglys. Nothing but good memories about that card shop, the owner, and his stories.

[MattyC]

Those stats there are just ridiculous.

All that power WITH average AND minimal K's! That's why Brett was my next favorite player.

Donnie Baseball was such a focus of the hobby for that moment. His 84D and 84T cards produce Pavlovian reactions in my brain-- I swearI get happier and time travel to childhood when I see them.

It's a shame so few cards from that era are scarce, but this is one of them.

PS: SWEET CARD AL! Glad I now am in the ownership club

[tulsaboy]

So who here thinks he should be in the Hall? For that period of time almost no one was better all-around.

[MattyC]

Great topic. Here's what I think:

If Puckett is in, Mattingly should be in. Puckett was great, but winning a WS should not be a prerequisite. That's a team function. Mattingly over Puckett if I'm making a team all day.

I long ago gave up any respect for the Hall because of the men who decide on entry. These "writers" make baffling decisions and the subjectivity and personal ax-grinding that inform their decisions really turns me off. To think several didn't vote for Maddux? That's a travesty. Or McGriff would be a lock with 7 more homers, but at 493 he's not worthy? They scream roids on Bagwell and Piazza, essentially convicting someone without proof? But look at a player like Molitor who reached new, almost anomalous heights late in his career, and post-1987. And I love molitor's game.

Just too many illogical calls on the sports writers' collective part, for me to revere any institution run on their taste and decisions.

[RobertGT]

Awesome card!

I grew up in North Jersey and Mattingly was and still is my favorite player. I never saw a sweeter left-handed swing - Taylor made for Yankee stadium. And of course there's the famous popcorn incident :
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OvSmfyRc3pM

[71buc]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Great topic. Here's what I think:

If Puckett is in, Mattingly should be in. Puckett was great, but winning a WS should not be a prerequisite. That's a team function. Mattingly over Puckett if I'm making a team all day.

You would build a team by picking Mattingly, a first baseman, over Puckett a centerfielder? Puckett was the best centerfielder of that generation. His average offensive numbers are very similar if not slightly better than those of Mattingly and he played a premium defensive position. I will admit a bias as I despise all things Yankee. (other than #2 & #42) Nonetheless, Mattingly over Puckett is crazy talk in my humble opinion.

That's a very cool card by the way.