The Phillies are targeting Don Mattingly as their next bench coach. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
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The Philadelphia Phillies need a bench coach, and the one they’re targeting is a Yankee legend, former National League manager of the year and frequent Seinfeld reference —yes, Don Mattingly.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Tuesday that the Phillies have already contacted Mattingly, who served as a bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays since the 2023 season but vacated the job soon after the Jays lost the 2025 World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.
It makes sense that Mattingly would head to Philly. He’s close friends with Rob Thomson from their time coaching with the Yankees, and Mattingly’s son Preston is currently the Phillies’ general manager. Heyman also pointed out that Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski is a “big admirer” of Mattingly’s.
The job opened up on the Phillies with Mike Calitri’s pending move from bench coach to the role of major-league field coordinator for the 2026 season.
Mattingly, who has a ton of coaching experience, figures to mesh well with a veteran club like the Phillies. He managed the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011-2015) and the Miami Marlins (2016-2022).
He won the NL Manager of the Year award in 2020 when he guided the Marlins to their first playoff appearance since 2003 during the shortened pandemic season.
Mattingly discussed his future plans last week at a meet-and-greet for Gold Glove Award winners at the MLB Flagship Store in New York City and it sounds like he entered retirement, albeit a temporary one.
“I’m 64, I feel good, but the road kind of wears you down. If I talked about it right now, the last thing I want to do is be on the road, but you never know how you feel a month from now or whatever,” he said, per MLB.com.
Mattingly spent his entire 14-year playing career with the Yankees before retiring after the 1995 season. He has a career .307 batting average, 2,153 hits and 222 home runs. As a first baseman, he won nine Gold Glove awards and the 1985 American League MVP award. And for the record, he never split his pants in a big-league game like he apparently did in this Seinfeld episode:
Yeah, that’s a shame. But it won’t a shame for the Phillies if they lure him out of his temporary retirement and he becomes the team’s bench coach — and Thomson’s right-hand man — for the 2026 season.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonystitt/2025/11/12/phillies-going-after-this-yankee-legend-and-frequent-seinfeld-reference/
