Toronto Blue Jays coach Don Mattingly will serve as advisor to the Nashville Stars, a group led by former All-Star and general manager Dave Stewart that is looking to become MLB’s next expansion franchise. According to USA Today’s Bob Nightingale.
Nightingale adds that Mattingly remains the Blue Jays’ head coach and advises Nashville’s expansion effort, which is called Music City Baseball.
The Nashville Stars, candidates for MLB’s next expansion franchise, are bringing in another baseball legend: former MVP and veteran manager Don Mattingly. Mattingly will be a baseball advisor to the group, which is led by former three-time World Series champion and GM Dave Stewart.
– Bob Nightingale (@BNnightengale) January 9, 2023
“The approach Dave Stewart and his team have taken at Nashville is exactly what baseball needs. I’m glad to see MLB take an active approach to these important issues. We need more diversity in the game, and it starts from the top down,” Mattingly said in a statement to Nightengale. “.
The former New York Yankees star joined the Blue Jays as bench coach on John Schneider’s staff in late November.
The 61-year-old was manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2011 to 2015 and then led the Miami Marlins from 2016 until last season. He and the team parted ways after a 69-93 campaign that saw them miss the playoffs for the second year in a row. In 2020, Mattingly won the National League Manager of the Year Award by helping the Marlins reach the playoffs for only the third time in franchise history.
In conjunction with the Museum of Black League Baseball in Kansas City, named after the Negro Leagues that played in Nashville from the late 1930s to early 1950s, the Stars are seeking “Major League Baseball’s approval for an expansion franchise in Nashville.” Their website describes themselves as “Nashville’s organization of business, sports, music, and community leaders” committed to “bringing the Major League Baseball franchise to the city of Nashville as part of a family-friendly, multi-sport, multi-themed entertainment district.”
In 2018, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred named Nashville as a potential MLB expansion destination and said last summer he would like to expand to 32 teams.
MLB last expanded in 1998 when the Arizona Diamondback Rays and Tampa Bay Devils were born – now called the Tampa Bay Rays.
Stewart also has a history with the Blue Jays, having spent two seasons with the team, including as a member of the 1993 World Series winning team.
