For someone who once assumed he was nearing the end of his baseball life, Don Mattingly is very much still in the game.
According to WRAL, the former New York Yankees captain and franchise icon has accepted a new role as bench coach with the Philadelphia Phillies, extending a career that has quietly become one of the longest continuous runs in modern Major League Baseball.
The move comes after Mattingly initially believed the 2025 season would be his last.
Mattingly, now 64, had spent the previous year in Toronto as a bench coach, expecting that chapter to serve as his farewell. But the decision didn’t stick. Family conversations—especially with his youngest son, Louis—reshaped how he viewed stepping away.
“Dad, you can’t stop,” Mattingly recalled his son telling him. “You’ve got to keep going.”
Toronto’s run to the World Series further complicated the idea of retirement. While the Blue Jays ultimately fell short against the Dodgers, the season reinforced that Mattingly still had value.
He later explained that his original goal in Toronto—helping guide a young manager—had been fulfilled, leaving him open to a different kind of opportunity.
That opportunity came from Philadelphia, where Mattingly signed a multi-year deal to join Rob Thomson’s staff. The move also places him in the same organization as his son Preston, the Phillies’ general manager, creating a rare father-son dynamic at the highest levels of the sport.
Thomson praised the hire, emphasizing Mattingly’s experience and steady presence, calling him “a great voice” who fits seamlessly into a coaching staff that has already seen sustained postseason success.
The Phillies have reached the playoffs four consecutive seasons, including a World Series appearance in 2022, but haven’t captured a championship since 2008. Mattingly, who famously never won a World Series as a player despite 14 seasons with the Yankees, now continues that chase from the opposing dugout.
His résumé speaks for itself. Mattingly was a six-time All-Star, the 1985 American League MVP, and later managed the Dodgers and Marlins, earning NL Manager of the Year honors in 2020. Despite recurring Hall of Fame disappointments, he remains realistic about his legacy.
“I try not to get optimistic,” he said of the process.