I just read that Donnie Baseball's 30 year old son was arrested for drunk driving in Indiana.
After testing more than 3.5 times over the legal limit, Jordan Mattingly fell several times while getting out of his Honda. HIs car was littered with empty cans of Four Loco and White claw. He faces two counts of DUI and public drunkenness.
Jordon is one of Don Matingly's three sons.
Taylor Mattingly, 37, is also in custody at the Vanderburgh County jail on charges of domestic battery.
No comment would be obtained from anyone in the Marlins organization.
This is a case where two out of three is not a good number.
Even for an all star.
ReplyDeleteThe price of fame and fortune. Being away from sons during those important first seven years of their life creates all sorts of problems for kids.
I can only pray they all get some help.
Richard, being away from the children doesn't make them into alcoholics or abusers. Those behaviors are frequently passed down parent to child. No idea what went on in the Mattingly household when the children were growing up, and I'm not going to google it, but ...
ReplyDeleteWe have a saying in medicine: Common things occur commonly.
Let's just hope all will be well with Donnie Baseball and his family.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, DA. Not arguing against hereditary issues, either. Just: Imagine you're Mattingly's kid. You're maybe 5 years old, your Dad isn't around for long parts of the year, you miss him when he isn't, and EVERYBODY you know is telling you either how great he is or how much he sucks. DM's kids would've heard it all the time. It's hard to remember just how BIG Mattingly was for a while. He was on posters and Mac and Cheese boxes. And he's your dad. And he's usually not around. Not saying it excuses any stupid behavior his kids might've enagaged in, especially since it's decades later, but being Donnie Baseball's kid had to be a very weird life and certainly wouldn't have overloaded a little kid with self-esteem and confidence. Then again, what life isn't very weird? Who knows?
ReplyDeleteIt's not easy for the kids of great men/women. Look at so many children of presidents, business tycoons, great artists, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's like you're already locked out of so much of life.
'Hey, my biggest talent is in what my Mom or Dad did. But I'll never do as well as they did at it." OR: "I don't have any particular talent. And normally, that would mean I'd do just fine carting away garbage or selling insurance—but because of my parentage, any good, useful thing I do will still leave me tagged as a complete failure in the eyes of the world.'
Takes a very discerning, careful individual to be able to live in those shadows and still carve out a life on their own.
Game called tonight, DH tomorrow
ReplyDeleteGreat man or not, an absentee father does a great deal of emotional damage to a child, male or female. What is at the core of the wound an absent father creates is one of shame and abandonment that plants a sees of self-hatred in a child, and this leads adult behaviors that mimic that childhood wound. It is every bit as damaging as physical abuse. Maybe more so.
ReplyDeleteWhile it may not lead to alcoholism or drug abuse, it has dire emotional consequences that have been clinically studied for decades. The medical man may bind a physical wound, but the deep scars of abandonment and the shame that accompanies it are almost invariably passed on generation to generation. Without help too many people suffer dire consequences as do their children.
I always thought Mattingly was a good father. At least, that's what my recollection was when Don played for the Yankees. Yes, he had bad chronic back issues but the PR about why he quit baseball early was to spend time with his kids that were by then teen agers. And when he was lured back to baseball, ostensibly, it was because his kids were done with high school.
ReplyDeleteHere are Mattingly's own words regarding why his retirement: “No, I would have retired anyway. On the road that year, increasingly, my thoughts were constantly of wanting to be home. My heart wasn’t in the game-I just longed to be with my wife and kids in Indiana.”
Ironically, Don said he thought he’d regained his power stroke in late ’95 and believed he could have pounded out some strong numbers the following year. He certainly finished with a flourish, batting .417 in the divisional series with a spate of ribbies and a dramatic home run.
Also, his youngest kid, now in hot water, is 30- 12 years removed from high school. He started his managerial stint in 2011 which would mean that he was always at home during their high school years with the exception of his eldest.
So, while being an absentee dad can have a negative effect on his children's' behavior, in this situation, he was there early enough and sufficiently long to remediate any psychological or emotional problems. At least to the extent that any parent can.
This seems more like his boys felt privileged because their dad was a famous MLB star.
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ReplyDeleteFurthermore, Mattingly's job which forced him to be away for a few months at a time is not the classic case where the father willfully and willingly leaves his kids for years or never acknowledges his parental role at all. This is not textbook abandonment. I will stake my non-existent PhD in psychology on it.
ReplyDeleteI do remember a story that broke about Donnie B getting arrested for intoxication and public urination. Was that a one time incident where he got caught, or did DM have a wee problem? Don't know, but I've wondered about it for the past thirty or so years.
ReplyDeleteDavid Cone jerked off in front of a woman in the Mets bullpen about 30 years ago.
Deletehttps://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-03-27-1992087093-story.html
ReplyDeleteThe Mets promptly traded him to the BJs.
Carl J, methinks Coney has masturbated in front of many adoring crowds. And I am fucking jealous!
ReplyDeleteFuck.
PS: Can't bring up the bullpen masturbation story enough!!