Should Yankee Stadium Bleacher Creatures Include Mattingly In Roll Call?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- "Bald Vinny" Milano isn't 100 percent sure whether he'll include fan favorite Don Mattingly in the famous Yankee Stadium roll call Tuesday night.
But he's leaning toward calling out the Hit Man.
The Los Angeles manager will be back in the Bronx for the start of a two-game interleague set Tuesday between the Yankees and Dodgers. Mattingly hasn't been in uniform around his old stomping grounds since leaving the Yankees' coaching staff in 2007.
On Twitter, Milano said he'd be "down" to include Mattingly in the Bleacher Creatures tradition, but warned that he doesn't like "getting dissed." Bald Vinny indicated he'd be looking for a tip of the cap from the visitor's dugout to Section 203.
For one thing, there's the issue of whether an opposing manager would step out and acknowledge the crowd. Plus, Milano wasn't convinced Mattingly would even hear the roll call.
"I don't really want to do it if he's not going to hear it," Milano told CBSNewYork.com.
When asked if he'd get his crew to chant for Donnie Baseball, Bald Vinny responded, "I think so."
"Why not?" he said. "Everybody seems to want it."
It wouldn't be your everyday roll call. Milano said they'd do it for Mattingly in the bottom of the first, "like a real roll call just for him." The Bleacher Creatures have made a custom of chanting the Yankees' names one-by-one in the top of the inning.
Mattingly played his entire 14-season career with the Yankees and was selected to six All-Star games. The team retired his No. 23 in 1997.
The 52-year-old appeals to an older generation of Yankees fans, Milano said. In other words, Mattingly is perfect for the Bleacher Creatures.
"My crew will be down with it," he said. "Definitely."
Milano said he actually got Jason Giambi to come out of the visitor's dugout once, though the former Yankees slugger got a tip that his name would be called. Giambi later responded with a home run that landed "about three feet" from him.
Mattingly's only visit to the new Yankee Stadium came in 2010, when New York unveiled a plaque in Monument Park honoring late owner George Steinbrenner.
"Donnie, himself, was and will always be a Yankee," general manager Brian Cashman said Monday. "Yankees fans haven't gotten a chance to show him the love, so he'll get it when they introduce his name."
He added: "I just hope we can beat him."
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