Don Mattingly is almost always seen wearing a blue Los Angeles Dodgers pullover before and during games, but he proudly displayed his No. 8 jersey Wednesday night in honor of a friend and mentor who passed away.
Mattingly wears the No. 8 in honor of New York Yankees legend Yogi Berra, who died Tuesday at age 90. He chose the number over his playing number, 23, when he became a coach under former Dodgers manager Joe Torre.
“Everything Yogi touches turns to gold and I was looking for gold,” Mattingly said Wednesday, via Mark Saxon of ESPN.com. “There’s not a day I look at No. 8 and don’t think about him.”
Mattingly was first introduced to Berra in 1981 when he was just 20 in the Yankees farm system. He played for Berra for two seasons when Berra managed the Yankees in 1984 and 1985.
“Yogi was the kind of guy that, if you went 4-for-4 or 0-for-4 during the game, if you’d see him somewhere afterward, it was going to all be the same,” Mattingly said. “It’s going to be, ‘How you doing, kid?’ The game’s over. I think that’s really important for a manager to be able to do that. I’ve played for guys who weren’t quite like that and it’s not near as much fun playing for them.
“I think people had it right. The reason he was so beloved, it wasn’t really about his career even though he was a great, great player. It was about what a great person he was, the way he treated people, how humble, sincere, kind he was to people. That’s really what defined him and I think it’s why he’s touched so many peoples’ lives.”
Berra is was one of the most respected players in baseball history and gave us some fantastic one-liners that are still used today. Mattingly’s high opinion of him is shared by many.
Photo via Mark Saxon/Twitter
