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Q&A with Bobby Valentine The former manager of the Mets and the Rangers is an analyst on Baseball TonightPosted: Thursday May 15, 2003 3:23 PM
Valentine: When I had Pudge Rodriguez, I spent no time at all on it. Pudge took care of it. But the rest of the time there was just no stopping him. SI: Will we ever see a manager pull a Connie Mack and wear a suit to the office? Valentine: I don't think so because the only reason managers are in the same costume as players is that managers are allowed on the field. If the umpires had their way they'd change it so managers would have to wear a shirt and tie and wouldn't be allowed on the field. SI: If you were the librarian for your hometown Stamford Public Library, would you stock David Wells' book? Valentine: I wouldn't have to do that in Stamford because they know better. But in some other places around the country where they might have their values confused, I would not. SI: Why do you think you've received praise for being outspoken as a studio host, but chastised for being outspoken as a manager? Valentine: If I've been praised, you better bring it to me because I haven't heard any of it. I think it makes a lot more sense to say something that's less than standard operational procedure when you're getting paid to do so. When you're supposed to think outside the box and you make those kinds of comments, then people think it's OK. My friend Tommy Lasorda was always criticized because he could do more than manage. His managerial ability was always minimized because he could do so many other things. He could feel at home in the Oval Office. He could speak to the cadets at West Point. He could go to dinner with CEOs and fit right in. I think what people want is a manager who puts on a uniform and spits tobacco and makes out a lineup cardand says "The boys just didn't play good today." Anything more than that you just get chastised for. SI: Have you ever been fired from anything outside of baseball? Valentine: Yeah, I got fired from the first job I ever had, working at a men's clothing store called Frank Martin and Sons in Stamford, Conn. I was let go because they found me sleeping in the back room. But as far as that firing stuff, I like to say that I am the only guy to ever manage in the American League, National League and the professional League in Japan. I'm also the only one to be fired from all three. SI: You've always claimed you're not a member of the managing fraternity. Do you feel that has hurt you? Valentine: Actually, I think I got into it after a few years in New York. I had been hit over the head enough times that they let me in the back door. I think there was a group of managers during the late 1980s that I referred to as the managing fraternity, but most of them are gone. Current managers who are lucky enough to have one of those precious 30 jobs are, for the most part, fraternity brothers. SI: Is the manager-general manger relationship adversarial by nature? Valentine: No, not at all. It's a work in progress that needs to have a collective thought. SI: Have you found any similarities between broadcasting and managing? Valentine: I think you have to be prepared in a similar way and that each day is brand new. I find the guys around here are very similar to a baseball team in that they put great effort into doing the show and making it as good as it possibly can be. But as soon as it's over, they are thinking about the next show. I think that's very similar to managing a baseball team. SI: Can you honestly say today that you will not manage in 2003? Valentine: I believe that will be the case. Last I looked there's no one offering a job. SI: You were awarded both the Branch Rickey Award and the Bart Giamatti Award for the work you did with 9/11 victims. How much did working with those families change you? Valentine: I'm not sure that it changed me, but it took a lot of my heart and a lot of my time and a lot of my energy. It was a life experience and still is and I'm still very close to the people I had the good fortune of meeting at an unfortunate time. It made me -- for the first time in my life -- understand that I didn't have as much energy and as much time as I thought was needed to do the things I wanted to do. SI: Last year you thought baseball was ready for an openly gay player. Have your feelings changed at all? Valentine: I thought at that time there were enough guys who had their heads screwed on properly to allow that to happen, and I think that's still the case.
SI Valentine: There's a lot of momentum toward a World Cup situation in baseball, which I think would be very interesting and exciting. I hope someday there is a true World champion and not just a North American champion because from what I've seen of the championship team in Japan -- not the All-Star teams from Japan because we have much more talent than them -- I think it would be a wonderful series. SI: You managed in Japan for a year in the mid-90s. What player there is the most major-league ready? Valentine: I stated in 1995 that I thought every player I saw in Japan could make a major league roster. I didn't think they would have the same stature here, though. The starting pitcher in Japan might not become the ace of a major league staff and the No. 3 hitter in Japan might not become the No. 3 hitter in the major leagues, but I thought they could all make major league teams. The player I remember most was a young guy who's very heralded now -- shortstop Kazuo Matsui. There are many Japanese players who could play in the majors, but I just hope they stay in Japan and keep their league as strong as possible so when and if that day comes for that world championship, it's a competitive series SI: How many Mets games have you watched this year? Valentine: I've watched them when they've played on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Sunday because I'm up here at ESPN checking out the games. The games on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday I have not seen
SI Valentine: I would make it very obvious to them that if they are going to go on the field, there will be very severe consequences. I would post large signs in front of every front-row seat, large signs in more than one language stating the fine, which would be mandatory, and the jail sentence, which would also be mandatory. I would have signs in the bathroom where the beer drinkers are bound to spend some time. I would make sure that that person or persons who decided to not heed the signs would be made an example of. In every city or municipality I would make sure the situation is dealt with quickly and justly. I've heard some talk of surrounding the field with Plexiglas to prevent people from running on to it. I'm not sure that would be functional, but we could take a page from the Japanese stadiums that have netting around the field. That works and it doesn't really impede the vision of the fans. All it does is keep the fans from having personal contact with the people involved in the game. It's something we might have to implement someday. SI: Is television at all implicit in the problem in the security problem? Valentine: This isn't a new problem and I don't think it's television's problem. I played in an Opening Day game at Comiskey Park in 1974 that had 14 streakers -- and three of them were women. None of them were on television. At the time, that was a kind of cutesy thing. I think society has changed since then and so our rules and how we deal with these situations has to change also. SI: You once said in an interview that a feature you would build into a new stadium would be a moving walkway that gives standing room customers a 360-degree view of the field. Did you ever tell any owner about that idea? Valentine: I talked to the Mets owners and a couple of designers and I actually even mentioned it when I was managing in Texas. When they sellout ballparks, they turn away a lot of new fans and that gets people upset. This would be a way to spend $5 and see a baseball game from a lot of different angles and not have to have a seat.
SI Valentine: I think I've had too many to mention but Robin Ventura, Scott Fletcher, Todd Pratt, Matt Franco, and Steve Buechele stand out. The why holds true for all of these guys and that is they knew the difference between right and wrong and they knew when it was the right time to tell the others what was right and what was wrong. SI: Al Leiter once described you as a guy who did well on his SATs long before Stanley Kaplan came along to hype up the scores. What did you get on your SATs? Valentine: I got good enough scores to get into three Ivy League schools. I don't want to say the number because it's probably off by 50 points and my English teacher will say that it isn't true. I think it was over 1300. SI: If I'm eating at Bobby Valentine's Sports Gallery Cafe in Stamford, do I go for the Piazza Pasta or the Benitez Burrito? Valentine: I think the Piazza pasta is a fan favorite, but the Benitez burrito is more bang for the buck. SI: Ever play My Funny Valentine after a game? Valentine: No SI: You won a ballroom dancing contest at age 14. What major leaguers would make the best ballroom dancers? Valentine: If they learned to step, most of the talented middle infielders, center fielders and some catchers, a few pitchers could probably be very good at it, too. I encourage the young players out there to consider dance in their future because it's a wonderful athletic event and ballroom dancing is a team sport, even though it's only a team of two.
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