Mattingly hears your 'shave those sideburns' bits

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TORONTO -- Don Mattingly has never watched that episode of The Simpsons.

He’s still having fun with it, though, autographing Simpsons-style images of himself and hearing strangers of all ages tell him that he needs to get rid of those sideburns. It’s been 32 years since the airing of “Homer at the Bat,” a classic episode of the beloved animation that turned Mattingly into a pop-culture icon in addition to baseball great.

“[It’s come back] more lately, and it’s almost like it’s never going away,” Mattingly said with a laugh from the Blue Jays’ dugout at Rogers Centre on Tuesday. “It’s kind of fun, because I’ve never really seen that full episode. People are always amazed that I’ve never seen it.”

Not that he’s still sore about getting kicked off the softball team for failing to meet Mr. Burns’ facial-hair requirements. He got the good end of the deal there, compared to his fellow Major Leaguers.

Mattingly was one of nine prominent 1980s players to appear in that episode of The Simpsons, joining Steve Sax, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Roger Clemens, Darryl Strawberry, Ken Griffey Jr., Jose Canseco and Mike Scioscia as the newest workers of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, recruited so that Mr. Burns could win a bet on the local softball tournament final.

His teammates in fiction run into a ton of bad luck ahead of the game: Scioscia gets radiation poisoning, Boggs gets knocked out at a pub, Smith goes missing. All Mattingly had to deal with was a bad haircut and a lifetime of references thrown his way.

“In L.A., when I was managing, we went to Australia [for Opening Day 2014], and more people were yelling, ‘Shave those sideburns’ and didn’t know anything about me playing,” Mattingly recalled. “And even here, with people that ask for autographs, a lot of times it’s a Simpsons picture. It’s a little different world.”

Baseball takes you to weird places.

Now in his second season with the Blue Jays’ coaching staff, Mattingly holds the title of offensive coordinator -- a new-age role designed to streamline the communication between coaches and hitters. As a former Manager of the Year and one of the most decorated players in his generation, Mattingly’s voice has carried a lot of weight for a long time. So the club trusted the 62-year-old with its offensive reconstruction.

That’s still a work in progress. Toronto’s hitters currently rank at No. 22 in the Majors with a .670 OPS and No. 24 in batting average with a .225 mark, struggling to turn good flashes into consistent production.

There’s no “magic bat” solution for that, but Mattingly and the Blue Jays have stayed adamant about the imminence of a turnaround. A few underlying numbers back that up as well. Toronto’s 22.5% whiff rate is the fifth-best in the Majors, and only seven teams have walked more than the Blue Jays. Players like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette -- key names in whatever offensive plan their team deploys -- are starting to see better results at the plate, too, and the coaching staff trusts George Springer will soon follow.

“The confidence [comes from] knowing how good they are,” said Mattingly. “I tell Bo and Vlad, those are guys I don’t worry about. You don’t want them to be extended in a slump or anything, but you’re always confident that they’re coming out of it. Guys that can really hit always know that they can.”

There are other ways to contribute. Through the tough offensive times, Mattingly and associate coach DeMarlo Hale have an all-encompassing motto:

“‘Find a way to help us win tonight,’” manager John Schneider said. “Be useful. Whether that’s on the bases, at the plate or in the field.”

That was a main takeaway from Mattingly’s accolade-filled time in the Majors.

“When you play long enough, you know that some guys, when they struggle, they worry about themselves -- which is natural,” said Mattingly. “But I always found that if I can just do something to help my club win, thinking in those terms, I’m always better. … When you play to win, you play differently. It’s just so much easier to play and enjoy the game when you’re playing with that tone.

“And really, what you’re trying to do when you’re managing or coaching is [achieve that]. If you can get your whole lineup playing like that, you’re going to have a good group.”