Mattingly Has High Praise For Tex

From Kevin Kernan:

"Teixeira's a great player, there's no question about that and I appreciate the way he plays and I think the Yankee fans are going to enjoy him," Donnie Baseball said. "I had lunch with him a few years back, so I knew he was a fan. He seemed like a really good kid."

Told that a Mattingly poster remains on the wall of Teixeira's old bedroom at his parent's home, Mattingly laughed and said, "Oh, geez."

It is the way that Teixeira plays the game, with respect, the same way the Yankees captain played it, that impresses Mattingly most.

"That's a great feeling to realize you had impact on somebody by really just being myself, more than anything. That's the best part because I never really tried to be a role model or anything like," said Mattingly, who once again will be Joe Torre's hitting coach with the Dodgers in 2009. "I really tried to be myself and play the game the way I learned to play it and love playing it and when that rubs off, it's kind of a nice thing to see."

He also sees a little of himself in Teixeira:

"His swing is a little different than mine in that he is more of an upper-cutter, more of a power swing than I had him," the former MVP said. "But when you look at guys and you hope that you shaped the way they play and I see some of that when I look at him."

As for the fact that the young Teixeira would wear a Yankee cap when he would come to watch Mattingly play at Camden Yards, Mattingly laughed and said, "That shows he's a little crazy too, that's always good for New York."

It's always a good thing when you get the Donnie Baseball seal of approval.