Going After Don Mattingly aka "Donnie Baseball"

When I was growing up, from about 1984 until the late 1980's, when it came to baseball players none were bigger than Don Mattingly. It did not hurt that he spent his entire career in the bright spotlight as a New York Yankee or that his career emerged at the height of the hobby of baseball card collecting. These factors, along with monstrous numbers from "Donnie Baseball", pushed his rookie cards to the equivalent of hobby gold. Simply put, Mattingly's rookie year baseball cards were THE cards to own. Mattingly eventually came back down to earth, hampered by a bad back, that ended his career early at 14 years in duration. Still a fan favorite to this day, Mattingly is currently the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Something still seems wrong with that as Don Mattingly should never be in any uniform other than classic Yankee pinstripes. Anyways, Mattingly came to LA for a charity event and we went after him in hopes of scoring an autograph and a photo with the baseball legend. Upon approaching Don Mattingly and politely asking if he would sign an autograph, he did not hesitate to take my blue Sharpie. He even took care in making sure to sign the signature in the light area on the photograph so it was more visible. My partner also snagged a beautiful Mattingly autograph on an 11x14 from Mattingly's playing days. He smiled and then happily posed for a photograph with each of us. We thanked him and wished him good luck in the upcoming baseball season. A great experience with one the great players to ever step on the field...it doesn't get much better than that.