Don Mattingly is gearing up for another potential World Series run.
The former Yankees star was officially named the bench coach of the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday.
“I am excited to welcome Don Mattingly to Philadelphia,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who overlapped with Mattingly in the Yankees organization when the latter was a player and later a coach.
“Having known Don for years and having worked closely with him in New York, I know that his knowledge of the game and his character make him a great addition to our tremendous coaching staff.”
Mattingly, 64, spent the past three seasons as the Toronto Blue Jays’ bench coach under manager John Schneider. He also served as Toronto’s offensive coordinator in 2024.
But Mattingly stepped down from the role in November, days after the Blue Jays lost in Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Last year marked Mattingly’s first trip to the World Series, as he never advanced that far as a player with the Yankees from 1982-1995 or in any of his previous seasons as a coach or manager.
He now joins a Phillies team with championship aspirations.
Philadelphia has made the playoffs four years in a row, including winning the National League East in both of the past two seasons. Philly went 96-66 before being eliminated by the Dodgers in the NLDS.
Mattingly replaces Mike Calitri, who was the Phillies’ bench coach from 2022-25 before becoming their major league field coordinator this offseason.
Monday’s hiring continues an eventful offseason for Mattingly, who last month fell short of Hall of Fame election in a vote by the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee.
Mattingly batted .307 with 222 home runs, 1,099 RBI and an .830 OPS in his 14 MLB seasons. He was the 1985 American League MVP and won nine Gold Gloves at first base.
But Mattingly played in only five postseason games, all in his final season.
“I got to play for the greatest organization in professional sports, which was just a great, great experience and allowed me to do all kinds of things,” Mattingly told the Daily News in October. “I remember one day late in ’85, I was standing at first base in Yankee Stadium and looking across the field and saw this guy in the third base box seats holding up a sign that said, ‘Don Mattingly, the Chosen One,’ and I wondered to myself, ‘What does that mean?’
“But sometimes in life, you don’t get what you want. You can work hard for it. You can try your hardest and do everything you think you need to do to get there, and sometimes you still don’t get there because you’re not supposed to get there. Maybe I was just chosen to be the one guy who never gets there.”
