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Out of Left Field |
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Our Sports Guy Pays A Visit to the Mets' Manager's Special Collection of Baseball Treasures |
 BOBBY VALENTINE |
Call Him Sentimental: Mets Manager Valentine Saves It All
By STAN ISAACS
of TheColumnists.com
BOBBY Valentine, the Mets
manager, was sitting in his office at Shea Stadium hours before
a recent game, signing baseballs. He was signing eight dozen
balls that would be auctioned off for a charity. Nobody is more
connected to such things as autographed baseballs because Valentine
is a collector’s collector.
His office in the Mets clubhouse complex is a mini-museum of
baseball and family memorabilia. Colorful World Series programs
are arrayed around the room. Shelves spill over with signed baseballs
encased in plastic amidst a computer, fax machine, telephones
and computer sheets of baseball statistics.
This is a man often described as a scheming, control freak of
a manager, but this room paints a different picture. Bobby Valentine
is a sentimentalist.
“I guess I first started collecting memorabilia when I became
a major league players 30 years ago,” he said. “I was
in awe of the old timers who came out for old timers’ games.
Other players didn't care or were too proud to ask for their
autographs, but I wasn't. Every autograph I have in this room
I got myself except for the one by Babe Ruth on the 1918 World
Series program.”
Valentine, 51, was an outstanding athlete growing up in Connecticut,
a coveted baseball prospect whose career was cut down by injury.
He played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, California Angels, San
Diego Padres and Mets before winding up his career with the Seattle
Mariners in 1979. He started managing with the Texas Rangers
in 1985 and put in a year in Japan before coming to the Mets
in 1996.
The oldest pieces in the room are the Little League and Babe
Ruth League balls signed by his teammates from championship teams
he played in. He picked one up, turned it over to show the signatures
and said with a smile, “Some of those 12-year-olds printed
their names.”
He said he became a serious collector 21 years ago when he opened
his restaurant in his hometown, Stamford. It is the Bobby Valentine
Sports Gallery and Café. Its walls are lined with equivalent
memorabilia. “I have all the Time Magazine covers with sports
figures on them, about 20,” he said. “I have the largest
collection of Life Magazine with sports figures on the cover.”
When his son, Bobby Jr. was born, Valentine started a collection
of books by Frank L. Baum, the author of “The Wizard of
Oz,” for the boy. “I liked the Oz stories as a kid
and an adult. People don’t know that he wrote 18 Oz books,
that the movie is based on the first one.” Among the framed
photos behind his swivel chair is a plaque given to him by his
16-year-old son two years ago that shows a pastoral fishing scene
with the words, “Anyone can be a father, but it takes a
special person to be a dad.”
Valentine married former Dodger pitcher Ralph Branca’s daughter,
Mary, and there is a photo of the Brancas and Valentines behind
his swivel chair. Among others alongside a huge Mets black, blue
and orange logo, there are some 50 balls, including one signed
by Casey Stengel, one each by Presidents George Bush I and II
. Autographed photos of him with both Bushes, Presidents Reagan
and Clinton. There is a photo of him when he appeared on Ralph
Kiner’s post-game TV show. The program from the 1923 opening
game at Yankee Stadium. Also, a photo of Muhammad Ali as a youth,
signed “Cassius Clay.”
When Valentine finished signing the balls, he moved on to putting
his signature on Mets jerseys, black ones with his name and No.
2 on it, using a gray felt pen. It would also go to the charity.
He has the programs of every World Series from 1912 but one.
He said, “I don’t have the Black Sox program of 1919.
It’s hard to find. I was outbid on one in an internet auction.”
An avid computer freak, he searches the internet for items, mentioning
the site, “auctionsite.com.” A 1903 program of the
first World Series, was sold for $70,000; he estimates it would
take at least $10,000 to buy the Black Sox program.
He pointed to the 1936 World Series program on which he got Joe
DiMaggio’s autograph because “it was the first World
Series DiMag played in.”
At first look at all the World Series programs I was puzzled
because I did not spot the program of his Mets World Series appearance
last year. He smiled and pointed to a spot above the television
set in front of him. “I put it there where I can see it
all the time,” he said. All previous programs were labeled
“Championship of the World” and “World” or
“World's Championship” before they settled on the simple
“World Series”. Last year’s program was entitled
“Fall Classic.” We agreed that “World Series”
was better.
He is one of the best managers in baseball, yet he has his critics.
It is notable then that he has a commentary by President Abraham
Linoln on one wall. In elegant script on parchment, it reads:
“If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how-the very best I can--and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what is said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, 10 angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”
With all that I believe
there is a sensitivity to Valentine that has him reaching out
for approval. He often gives a ball or a lineup card to a player
after his first game. This was evident, too, in the generosity
and sense of baseball history he displayed in blowing up and
framing his National League lineup card and bestowing it on all
his players. Whereas a manager will usually cross out the names
of players who have left the games, leaving the letters illegible,
Valentine asked his coaches to put only little “x”s
next to those departing the game so that the names could be read
for posterity. He said,”Some probably wouldn’t care
now, but if they keep it when they have gray hairs, it might
mean something to them, I believe.”
Valentine was pleased to show off one of the enlarged replicas.”One
of the things, I wish I had done, though,” he said with
a shake of his head, “was to get Tony Gwynn [the non-active
longtime favorite] to sign the card. Everybody would have appreciated
that.”
One of those for sure will grace the Bobby Valentine Mini Hall
of Fame at Shea Stadium.
© 2001 by Stan Isaacs. The photo is from the official New York Mets website.
You can comment on this column or contact Stan Isaacs with an email to: talkback@thecolumnists.com
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