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Bobby Valentine
is the new manager of the Boston
Red Sox, something you might have gotten a few pretty healthy odds on back
in early September. That was before the earth moved under Fenway Park, before
the spectacular month-long collapse of the Old Towne Team led to their esteemed
manager and General Manager moving on, of course, before the barrage of
sensational stories pertaining to the Sox player personnel flooded Beantown's
relentless press. When you are coasting towards a playoff birth along with a
realistic shot of a third World Series title in seven seasons, and then, less
than a 30 days later you are playing golf, there are repercussions, especially
in baseball-obsessed Boston.
Now the Red Sox
are trying to clean up the mess and have invested heavily in Valentine, a
controversial, polarizing manager with 20 years’ experience leading the Texas Rangers, New
York Mets and Japan's Chiba Lotte Marines. Was it the right move? That is the
easiest question I will ever answer, even if it's rigged because I wrote it
myself. Let's just say this-I love Bobby Valentine, I love everything about
him, and I am insanely jealous that he is back in baseball up in Boston rather
than in Queens.
Many fans grow up with a most loved player,
and I had that too. The Mets phenom pitcher Dwight Gooden was my guy, that is
until "Dr. K" got hooked on drugs, became a Yankee, threw a no-hitter
and won a World Series in the Bronx. That was too much to take, and so I don't
have a favorite player anymore. However, I do have an all-time favorite, and
somewhat bizarrely, it's a manager, not a player-Bobby Valentine. He joined the
Mets in 1996 during a time when the team hadn't got a winning season in five
years. In 1997 they won 88 games. In 1999 and 2000 they went to the playoffs
with so-so teams Valentine squeezed the very last ounce of talent out of. They
lost to the Yankees in the 2000 World Series four games to one, but played them
tougher than any of their previous opponents during their run of championships.
However forget the winning, the fact that
he's probably one of the most brilliant and prepared baseball people around,
and all that, blah, blah, blah. What makes Bobby fantastic is that in a
baseball world that is extremely traditional, that is full of conformists
falling in line, Valentine is an extremely bright, entertaining renaissance
man, who is part of a minuscule counter-culture inside a game that does not
especially take to individualism. We're talking about a baseball manager who
can ballroom dance, decided against playing college football at USC and
replacing OJ Simpson at running back, took a job overseeing his hometown's
police, fire, and health departments, invented the sandwich wrap, and famously
came back into the dugout wearing a disguise after being ejected from the game
in 1999. Most amazing were his two stints managing in Japan, where he built
much more than a cult following with his comprehensive embracing of the culture
and language, not to mention bringing a title to Chiba in 2005, while helping
to develop his own "Bobby Magic" burger.
These are not the kind of activities that
your typical baseball manager gets into, and that may be the reason why there
are a lot of baseball people out there who don't like Bobby V, never-mind the
shit-eating half-grin he wears in the dugout. You hear a lot of "He thinks
he's the smartest guy in the room" sort of talk, that Valentine is frequently
plotting, forming agendas, carrying out schemes with those he considers
"his guys" in the clubhouse, the board room and in the press, burning
bridges in the process. A few of that is true, and there is definitely a part
of Bobby Valentine that is a huge pain in the ass, and yes, it can get ugly.
Like the time he had to deny trying to get fired during a 12-game losing streak
in 2002, and his amusing, but questionable way of dealing with the rumors of
rampant marijuana use around the team later that season, his final one with the
Mets. All of this was fine with me obviously, and as a friend described,
"He thrills you and on the other hand has actually punched you, and likely
thinks you're a idiot. He is a paradox. “That’s true, Valentine did punch me,
playfully, but very hard after I asked him for an interview in Japan back in
2000.” Come back tomorrow" POW! Yes, it was a unique show during a golden
era for Mets fans.
What does all of that mean
for Boston? Clearly, they are getting a manager capable of changing a culture instantly;
somebody who is extremely optimistic during a time the franchise is recovering
from one of its most negative seasons. They are also having a manager who will
take the attention away from their skeptical players, who is always ready to
present his version of events to a populace thirsty for interaction with their
team. Can Valentine handle the Boston fans and the local press? Well,
considering his performance in Japan, a sink or swim environment for gaijin, I
don't have any doubts on that front. Come April, Boston's fans will learn
first-hand that Valentine is a fearless, can-do manager who will entertain
without stepping into the batter’s box while restoring the Red Sox to
prominence.
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