Quote:
Originally posted by moe.ron
I forgot to say that Mattingly played 3rd base once in a blue moon. Thanks for reminding me.
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He played second base during the re-play of the Pine Tar game. He was a good enough fielder that he fooled around once in a while at the other positions. He actually came up as a 1b/outfielder, and there was serious talk of leaving him in the outfield because the Yankees had Steve Balboni at first (he was more the power-hitter type that Steinbrenner was looking for; he even considered trading Mattingly to the SF Giants for Chili Davis). When you're the possibly the best fielding first basemen in MLB history though, chances are you're not going to get chances to mess around.
That said, Rob's correct in his statments. In the early 20th century there were a handful of lefty catchers, but I don't believe there have been any regulars in nearly a century.
Collin
- HUGE Don Mattingly fan; probably know more about his career than any normal person should
ETA there are good fielding right-handed first basemen who come along; Tino Martinez comes to mind.
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