
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 10, 1990                   TAG: 9004100180
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

MATTINGLY SIGNS CONTRACT FOR 5 YEARS, $19 MILLION

It was not quite 4 p.m. when Don Mattingly pulled on his sport coat and began walking toward the New York Yankees' clubhouse door and the news conference in which he would be declared the richest player in the game.

One by one, teammates shook his hand and offered congratulations.

By the time Mattingly boarded the Yankees' charter flight to Cleveland, where the team will open its season tonight against the Indians, he had signed a guaranteed five-year contract worth an estimated $19 million.

The deal, which takes effect in the 1991 season, includes a signing bonus and a no-trade provision, although specifics were not announced.

The agreement was not complete until late in the day.

George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, and Jim Krivacs, Mattingly's agent, spent three hours working out details.

They had spoken by phone until almost midnight Sunday.

Mattingly, who will turn 29 on April 20, is in the final season of a $6.7 million contract he signed in the winter of 1988.

He will be paid $2.5 million this season. His average salary will rise to $3.8 million with the new contract.

Will Clark, the San Francisco Giants' first baseman who signed a four-year, $15 million contract in the off-season, had been acknowledged as the highest-paid player.

Clark will earn $4.25 million in the final year of his contract.

Krivacs said his intention had not been to make Mattingly the highest-salaried baseball player.

"That wasn't a goal or an objective," he said. "It just happened."

by CNB