By DON WADE, Courier staff writer

     Always a selective hitter, Don Mattingly swung at a few pitches, but let 
perhaps the most tempting offering from ESPN's Roy Firestone go by.

In a taped interview with Firestone on "Up Close, Prime Time," which 
aired Friday night, the New York Yankees' first baseman made it clear 
that he has not appreciated the barrage of criticism he has received this 
year, and that he especially did not like the timing of the first overtly 
negative story, written by Bill Madden of the New York Daily News.

"It was such a direct attack," he said of Madden's story. "And it came 
out the day after he'd been sitting in the booth with Mr. Steinbrenner."

Yes, Mattingly still refers to George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' owner, 
as "Mr." Even though he is amazed at the attitude that appears to have 
filtered down from the top.

"There's a time to move on," said Mattingly, who is in the last year of a 
five-year contract. He's hitting .284 with six home runs and 45 runs 
batted in as the Yankees fight for the American League wildcard spot. 
Mattingly has never played in the post-season.

"But there's ways to handle it," he continued. "You just don't kick the 
guy, spit on him - Get out the door.

"I've always played hard, given everything I have ... I don't like the 
way I've been treated (because) I don't think I've changed any."

Amid injuries, most notably a chronically sore back, the 34-year-old 
Mattingly's offensive numbers have changed for the smaller.

Ten years ago, he hit .324, belted 35 home runs, drove in 145 runs and 
was named the league's Most Valuable Player.

He has not hit more than 20 homers in a season since 1989, and critics 
have hammered away at his lack of home runs and RBIs.

Yet when Firestone tossed a batting practice fastball toward Mattingly, 
asking how he would judge Steinbrenner's performance in light of the 
team's failure to win a pennant since 1981, Mattingly moved off the 
plate, so to speak.

"I don't think it's my place as an employee to go out publicly and say, 
'I'd do this differently.' " 

But, he added, if he were manager or general manager, "I'd definitely 
stand up for what I believe."

Mattingly's popularity with fans at Yankee Stadium has not suffered 
during what he termed a "very dark part" of his New York experience.

And though he has been preparing for the possibility he will leave, he 
didn't absolutely say he wouldn't return to New York - even when asked if 
he would consider being a part-time player.

"Oh, I don't know," he said. "A lot of decisions that need to be made 
will come this winter."

The decision figures to be a very emotional one.

When the conversation turned to the late Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle, 
and the fact Mattingly wears a No. 7 on his cap and has that number on 
his bats, Mattingly spoke with a choked voice.

"From the day Mickey went into the treatment center (for alcoholism), I 
put '7' on my bats," Mattingly said, adding that this was his private way 
of encouraging Mantle to "stay with it, man, stay with it."

Mattingly put the No. 7 on his cap, he said, after Mantle's death. As he 
explained all this, he struggled to get out the words, and said, "I still 
don't understand why I feel like this."

Firestone suggested it was maybe because Mantle and Mattingly were 
Yankees - brothers in a baseball family.

"Maybe," Mattingly said at the interview's end. "Maybe."                                       


Copyright (c) 1995 The Evansville Courier, a Scripps Howard newspaper                                                           
-- Sept. 23, 1995  --