Donnie Baseball was one of the greatest players I've ever seen. He effortlessly dove into the stands to make a grab or dig out an errant throw with as much grace as there was. (nine gold gloves) He used his bat like a club and slashed grand slam home after grand slam to cement his glory in the record books of MLB.
In 1987, he set a major league record by hitting six grand slam home runs in a season.
I think it was in Texas when he hit his eighth consecutive home run in as many games-tying another major league record. I can remember listening to the call on the radio as he blasted the shot and it sent chills down my spine. Just think about that for a second. Eight home runs in eight games. Only done one other time in the history of baseball. Barry Bonds and his juiced up body couldn't do it.
From 1984 to 1989 there was not a better all around player in baseball and the best player to compare him to was the late, great Stan Musial. Donnie won the MVP in 1985:
He batted .324 with 35 home runs and 145 RBI, then the most RBI in a season by a major league batter since Ted Williams hit 159 in 1949. He may have been even better in 1986, when he hit .352 with a league-leading 238 hits and 53 doubles.
and was a six time all-star in that time span as well as sliver slugger winner from '85-'87. There isn't a more popular Yankee outside of Yogi alive today. A big reason for that is becasue the Yanks were always so close to getting into the playoffs during his career, but never quite got there until '95 and he played the game "old school." There was always Mattingly to give us a glimmer of excitement when the season was already lost. Is he a Hall of Famer? You can't put him in because of the length of his career, but was he a Hall of Famer? Absolutely!