Good morning, all. Spring is here. It arrived yesterday afternoon at 5:24 PM EDT. I hope your week is off to a great start.
The first and second rounds of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament are in the books and only two number one seeds remain, Alabama and Houston. For the first time a 16th seed bumped off a number one seed, when Fairleigh Dickenson shocked Purdue. Meanwhile, Arkansas eliminated the other number one seed, Kansas. The FDU cinderella season did come to an end on Sunday, when Florida Atlantic continued its dream season with a win over the Knights.
Social media was abuzz, however, when FDU upset Purdue. I had fun reminding people that earlier this season, in a game I broadcast, the University of Hartford upended the Knights, 74-66. Hartford is downgrading its program from Division I to DIII. The Knights weren’t even supposed to be in the tournament. A member of the Northeast Conference, FDU finished second to Merrimack, a school not eligible because it is in its third year of Division I. A school must compete in DI for four years before becoming eligible for the NCAA Tournament.
Meanwhile, how about Princeton? The Ivy League school, which upended Yale in the Ivy championship game to qualify for the tournament, is now in the Sweet 16. College basketball at the Division I level has many disconcerting issues, but there is no denying this time of year is special for the sport.
Why is Don Mattingly not a Yankee?
Don Mattingly is one of the greatest players to don a New York Yankees uniform. So why isn’t he still wearing one? Hall of Fame baseball writer Bill Madden recently asked the same question.
After serving as manager Joe Torre’s bench coach in 2007, Mattingly lost out to Joe Girardi for the Yankees managerial post, after Torre departed at the end of that season. Mattingly then became Torre’s aide-de-camp when he became manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008. Mattingly later became the Dodgers’ manager with some success, winning three divisional crowns, before moving on to Miami, where he managed the Marlins for seven seasons. In fact, in the Covid-shortened 60-game campaign, Mattingly led the Marlins to a playoff berth and earned NL Manager of the Year honors.
With his contract running out, Mattingly chose to leave Miami after 2022. There is a good chance the Marlins would not have brought him back anyway. As Mattingly told Madden, it was time for the Miami players to hear a different message from a new manager.
Mattingly was perfectly content to remain on the sidelines in 2023, until the Toronto Blue Jays came calling, asking him to become manager John Schneider’s bench coach. Schneider, who managed the Blue Jays AA team New Hampshire to the Eastern League championship in 2017, became Blue Jays manager in 2022 midway through the season, after Charles Montoyo was fired. He guided the Jays to a 46-28 record and a playoff spot. Mattingly agreed to take the job only if it was not perceived he would be looking over Schneider’s shoulder.
Still, with Mattingly a free agent, the Yankees never came calling to offer him a job. Mattingly even told Madden rumors that the Yankees were about to hire him for their YES Network were unfounded. YES never called. So even though Mattingly has managed against the Yankees (The Marlins made the playoffs by beating the Yankees at Yankee Stadium), it will be a strange sight to Yankees fans, when New York plays Toronto 14 times this year and “Donnie Baseball” is in the opposing club’s dugout.
It will remind me of the time I went to Yankee Stadium on Aug. 9, 1969 to watch the Yankees against the Oakland Athletics. Who was in the dugout, serving as an Oakland coach? Joe DiMaggio. The “Yankee Clipper” in those hideous Kelly Green and gold, sleeveless A’s uniforms? In Yankee Stadium no less? That was blasphemy on a New York stage.
DiMaggio eventually returned to the Yankees fold, content to serve as an instructor in spring training and a frequent guest in George Steinbrenner’s owner’s box. Perhaps, Mattingly will also return to the fold. As he told Madden:
“Look at Yogi. When he left he was all over the place but he ended up back in New York.”
If George Steinbrenner was still alive, Mattingly would have been in New York too. Here’s hoping he returns someday, but me thinks with the current regime in charge, it is doubtful there will be a Mattingly return, unless it’s with the opposition.
That is going to do it for this week’s newsletter. I am going to take a break for a few weeks. The newsletter will return on April 11. As always, thank you for your support and be safe.
SPORTSCASTER DAN