Just how old is Don Mattingly?

[Rock Strongo]

I remember this as a kid

Happy 59th! Or is it 58th? Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly's birthday

The birthdate at the bottom of the card is also 4-20-62, and if you look closely, you can see that the "62" is slightly off-line. The first draft of the card, it appears, had used the '61 common to most baseball records. One imagines a "Stop the presses!" moment at the Topps factory, as the correct year was apparently fixed by hand.

Arduini went online to confirm that most baseball records had since been corrected. But they hadn't. Baseball-Reference.com: April 20, 1961. Wikipedia: April 20, 1961. MLB.com: 4/20/1961. "Everywhere I looked, the birthdate still -- 32 years later -- hadn't been fixed," Arduini told us. "So I checked back in with Topps, and guess what: On Mattingly's 1988 card, his date of birth was listed as 4-20-61. This fun fact, Mattingly's 1962 birthdate, only appears in two places: his 1987 Topps baseball card and his birth certificate. Now, I've never seen Mattingly's birth certificate, but Topps has; they said so right there on the card."

 

[Cedrique]

I remember this as a kid

Happy 59th! Or is it 58th? Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly's birthday

The birthdate at the bottom of the card is also 4-20-62, and if you look closely, you can see that the "62" is slightly off-line. The first draft of the card, it appears, had used the '61 common to most baseball records. One imagines a "Stop the presses!" moment at the Topps factory, as the correct year was apparently fixed by hand.

Arduini went online to confirm that most baseball records had since been corrected. But they hadn't. Baseball-Reference.com: April 20, 1961. Wikipedia: April 20, 1961. MLB.com: 4/20/1961. "Everywhere I looked, the birthdate still -- 32 years later -- hadn't been fixed," Arduini told us. "So I checked back in with Topps, and guess what: On Mattingly's 1988 card, his date of birth was listed as 4-20-61. This fun fact, Mattingly's 1962 birthdate, only appears in two places: his 1987 Topps baseball card and his birth certificate. Now, I've never seen Mattingly's birth certificate, but Topps has; they said so right there on the card."

Either way it was on 4/20 so maybe the records clerk who typed up the birth certificate to a "long lunch" that day.

 

[Rock Strongo]

Either way it was on 4/20 so maybe the records clerk who typed up the birth certificate to a "long lunch" that day.

donnie burns

 

[Cedrique]

donnie burns

Man, he looked like he was on his way to the hall of fame at that point. .332 avg, .539 slugging, tons of RBIs......He must have had some injuries. If he was born in '62 he was only 33 when he retired.

 

[Rock Strongo]

Man, he looked like he was on his way to the hall of fame at that point. .332 avg, .539 slugging, tons of RBIs......He must have had some injuries. If he was born in '62 he was only 33 when he retired.

and the yankees won the WS the year after he retired. always felt bad for him.

age 23-28:

.327/.372/.530 - .902 OPS
257 doubles
160 HR
684 RBI
147 OPS+

29-34 with no power and a shit back:
.286/.345/.405 - .750 OPS
170 doubles
58 HR
382 RBI
105 OPS+

and hard to watch if you saw him in his prime. shell of himself.

 

[Rod Freakin' Dangerfield]

I remember this as a kid

Happy 59th! Or is it 58th? Cracking the mystery of Don Mattingly's birthday

The birthdate at the bottom of the card is also 4-20-62, and if you look closely, you can see that the "62" is slightly off-line. The first draft of the card, it appears, had used the '61 common to most baseball records. One imagines a "Stop the presses!" moment at the Topps factory, as the correct year was apparently fixed by hand.

Arduini went online to confirm that most baseball records had since been corrected. But they hadn't. Baseball-Reference.com: April 20, 1961. Wikipedia: April 20, 1961. MLB.com: 4/20/1961. "Everywhere I looked, the birthdate still -- 32 years later -- hadn't been fixed," Arduini told us. "So I checked back in with Topps, and guess what: On Mattingly's 1988 card, his date of birth was listed as 4-20-61. This fun fact, Mattingly's 1962 birthdate, only appears in two places: his 1987 Topps baseball card and his birth certificate. Now, I've never seen Mattingly's birth certificate, but Topps has; they said so right there on the card."

He’s still young enough to whip your butt.

 

[Chewbaccer]

I’m still thinking Mattingley had something to do with Urena drilling Acuna with that infamous pitch.

Fuck him and his no facial hair allowing candy ass

 

[Rod Freakin' Dangerfield]

I’m still thinking Mattingley had something to do with Urena drilling Acuna with that infamous pitch.

Fuck him and his no facial hair allowing candy ass

Nah. He wasn’t behind that.

 

[nynasty]

and the yankees won the WS the year after he retired. always felt bad for him.

age 23-28:

.327/.372/.530 - .902 OPS
257 doubles
160 HR
684 RBI
147 OPS+

29-34 with no power and a shit back:
.286/.345/.405 - .750 OPS
170 doubles
58 HR
382 RBI
105 OPS+

and hard to watch if you saw him in his prime. shell of himself.

He was a beast from 84-88. Voted best all around player in the game by his peers for 3 straight years.

Screwed on both sides of his career-called up in 82 after Yanks lost the '81 series, then retired the year before they began the 4 out of 5 run.

He did acquit himself well in the only post-season series he ever played in though-.417, 5 extra base hits in 23 ABs.

 

[Rod Freakin' Dangerfield]

He was a beast from 84-88. Voted best all around player in the game by his peers for 3 straight years.

Screwed on both sides of his career-called up in 82 after Yanks lost the '81 series, then retired the year before they began the 4 out of 5 run.

He did acquit himself well in the only post-season series he ever played in though-.417, 5 extra base hits in 23 ABs.

Absolutely amazing the Yankees went the stretch between '81-'95 without being a playoff participant. That has to be the longest stretch in franchise history.