He was, by his own admission, "a skinny, 180-pound 19-year-old" in his first professional season above the Class A level.

His team was entering its fourth year of existence, trying to give its town a professional sports option after an absence of nearly two decades.

Looking back, it's obvious Don Mattingly and the Nashville Sounds have both grown up.

Mattingly returns today to the city where he began to realize he could really play the game of baseball as the Sounds will retire the No. 18 he wore here during the 1981 season.

It was before he went on to become part of the legacy of the New York Yankees -- winning MVP honors, a batting title, nine Gold Gloves and earning the title of team captain over a 14-year career.

"That was really my first big-city experience, my first big stadium," he remembered. "Minor league baseball was a big part of my career, and it was a fun time. Guys still hung out together, you rode buses together. There were a lot of times that aren't always there when you hit the big leagues.

"It was pure baseball, and it was a special time."

Playing on a team with such names as Willie McGee, Buck Showalter, Otis Nixon and Mike Morgan, Mattingly led the Sounds in hits, doubles and RBI as they went on to win the Southern League regular-season championship.

"There were a lot of class people around him -- Buck, Willie, [infielder] Erik Peterson," former Sounds president/general manager Larry Schmittou said. "It helps when you have other good people to push you.

"What I remember about him was that he was a student of the game and he had a great work ethic. It wasn't unusual to see him out taking extra batting practice, even if he was leading the league in hitting. He craved extra work -- craved it -- and he carried that throughout his career."

Lacking great physical talent, Mattingly knew he'd have to be a grinder -- a blue-collar guy that came to work every day. Sounds followers appreciated that side of him.

"My experience was just of great people in Nashville," he said. "They made you feel right at home, very comfortable. They made it easy on a guy coming to a new city. They were really excited about baseball."

In his one season, Mattingly hit .315 with seven home runs and 98 RBI. He followed that with 10 homers at Class AAA Columbus, then ran off six straight years of 18 or more homers with the Yankees as questions of his power were effectively answered.

"There was no doubt he was a great hitter, but at the time, he was a [Wade] Boggs-type hitter, a doubles hitter," Schmittou said. "They wondered if he'd hit with enough power to play first or if he'd need to move to left field, and he played some of both here."

With some physical maturity, and the short porch in Yankee Stadium's right field, Mattingly hit 23 homers in his first full major league season, then 35 in his MVP campaign of 1985.

"It was just a natural progression, physically," he said. "But Lou Piniella also helped me, with weight shift, leverage, getting my bottom hand more into the swing. That allowed me to get some backspin on the ball, and balls that had been going for doubles started carrying out of the park. From there, it kinda exploded."

When the smoke cleared, Mattingly -- whose No. 23 was retired by the Yankees two years ago -- ranked among the team's all-time leaders in eight offensive categories as well as games played.

"I learned how to play from some great veterans," he said. "I think you've got to get there and experience New York to understand it. But I was able to keep my focus and do what I was there to do, which was to play baseball. I always had confidence in what I could do on the field, and that kept me on solid ground."

Although he retired the year before the Yankees won the 1996 World Series, Mattingly is comfortable with his place in the lore of the franchise.

"I was able to go out on my terms," he said. "I was still at the point they were offering me a contract. I feel like I was a part of the architecture that's there now. And to be on a plaque out in center field, to be a part of that history -- it gives me a great sense of pride to be able to do the whole thing there."

Maurice Patton

Copyright 1999 by The Tennessean