Hall candidate: Mattingly was great for too short a time

• Don Mattingly might have been baseball's best player from 1984 to 1989
• Back injuries took their toll in the 1990s, and Mattingly lost much of his power
• Mattingly is an iconic Yankee but the team never won a World Series in his 14 years

(Editor's note: USA TODAY Sports is publishing sketches of the top Hall of Fame candidates on this year's ballot. It is an intriguing group, ranging from players with first-ballot accomplishments marred by the cloud of performance-enhancing drugs to unsullied players nearing the end of their 15-year eligibility. The Baseball Writers' Association of America will announce Jan. 9 who, if anyone, accumulates the 75% of the vote necessary for induction.)

Name: Don Mattingly

Position: First base

Career: 1982 to 1995; Yankees

Year on ballot: Thirteenth

Why he should be inducted: Mattingly might have been baseball's best player from 1984 to 1989, a six-year stretch during which he averaged more than 200 hits, 115 RBI, 27 homers, nearly 100 runs and a .327 batting average. Had his chronic back pain not robbed him of power as he reached his 30s, Mattingly undoubtedly would have maintained that production for many more years.

Mattingly also set the standard for smooth-fielding left-handed first basemen. He has the best career fielding percentage of any player at any position: .9959. He won nine Gold Gloves.

Why he shouldn't be inducted: The fact remains he did have a bad back, and it eroded his power to an average of 10 home runs and 64 RBI the second half of his career.

He never won a World Series, and the fact that his career was limited to 14 years is the death knell for his Hall of Fame candidacy. He didn't come close to 3,000 hits and didn't hit 400 home runs.

Numbers don't lie: Mattingly was a monster in his early to mid-20s, posting an OPS of .938 from 1984 to 1987, winning the MVP award in 1985 and finishing in the top seven each year. He was on a Hall of Fame track, but his back injury derailed him.

Verdict: Mattingly has limped along at about 20% of the vote for a dozen years. It likely won't increase appreciably. His best chance at recognition now would be to lead the Dodgers to their first World Series title since 1988 as manager.