Brush with greatness: Bobby Valentine

When I first started this blog, I was searching for content. I didn't want the blog to be "look what I got" all the time, and besides, I didn't have all that many cards to boast about twice a day (I still can't believe I was posting twice a day).

I decided one interesting series might be to relay the various encounters I had with major league baseball players. As a newspaper journalist, I had run into one or two, although I had never been an MLB beat writer or anything.

I started the "Brush With Greatness" series and started posting those rapid fire, at least one a month for a couple of years. Then I ran out of those MLB subjects and started writing about interviews with athletes from other sports. Then I ran out of those and the series basically died.

Or so I thought.

Life is weird. You probably know that.

Two days after my John Wockenfuss story appeared in the paper, I received a call at the office from a former high school and college baseball coach who had also managed one or two of the collegiate baseball league teams that we've had in town.

He's a good guy and one of the few coaches who understands how a newspaper works, the give and take, how you won't get coverage if you don't report your scores to us, that sort of stuff. He gets it.

He had been unaware that Wockenfuss was living in town. And I didn't know that this guy was arranging a dinner at the local Italian-American club in which Bobby Valentine was going to be speaking. Wouldn't it be nice, he asked, if Wockenfuss could come to the event and there would be two former major leaguers under one roof in our little ol' town?

So I did what little I could to make that happen. A day later, I'm at the event, speaking to Bobby Valentine, and in walks John Wockenfuss. I'm standing there, actually introducing Wockenfuss to Bobby Valentine. Crazy.

So, anyway, Wockenfuss was at the dinner with his stepson-in-law, and he seemed to have a good time. Everyone was glad he could get out of the house and receive a little recognition, too.

So, on to Bobby Valentine.

He came to the dinner from Connecticut, where he is the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, driving 5 1/2 hours with a good friend of his, who used to play with the former coach I mentioned (hence the reason Valentine was speaking here). Before the dinner, I had arrived early and was sitting in the parking lot waiting to go in when who should drive in and park right next to my car but Bobby Valentine? I thought that was cool.

OK, now for people who somehow don't know who Bobby Valentine is, a few quick highlights:

-- Former No. 1 pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, was expected to be a great star.

-- Traded to the Angels in the big Frank Robinson-Andy Messersmith deal but fractured his leg chasing a home run ball and was never the same.

-- Also played for the Padres, Mets and Mariners.

-- Became Rangers manager at age 35 and is second only to Ron Washington in total managing wins in Texas history.

-- Managed the Mets during one of their most successful periods, taking them to the World Series in 2000 against the Yankees.

-- Was Mets manager during the memorable 9/11 game against the Braves in which Mike Piazza hit that epic home run.

-- Managed in Japan two different times and became very popular there, learning the language and having a documentary made about him.

-- Managed the Red Sox for one frightful season in 2012.

-- Has worked as an analyst for ESPN, was director of health and safety for his hometown of Stamford, Conn., and once famously returned to the dugout in a disguise after being ejected by the umpire.

Also, he was once the son-in-law of Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca, was once fired by George W. Bush, and has been credited by some with inventing the wrap sandwich.

That's quite the resume.

He's also very gregarious, outspoken, sometimes controversial, animated and I didn't know what I would find when I got a chance to talk to him.

But after getting to the event, the former coach greeted me, asked me to give Bobby a few moments and all of a sudden was back with Bobby, who was ready to talk.

Valentine and I went over to one of the guest tables and I sat and he stood (5 1/2-hour car ride, you know) and I asked whatever I wanted and he answered whatever I asked.

I wanted to talk Dodgers because I'm a Dodgers fan. He said that he talked to Tommy Lasorda on the car ride up.

"Tommy's good. He's going to be 93 on Sept. 22. He's going to be a 100, he says he's going to be 100. And he sound great now. He had a little slow time, but now he's lost weight and has better meds."

I also asked him about Bill Buckner, who died last spring. Buckner was Valentine's first roommate in the minor leagues.

"He hunted, he was an outdoorsman. He was a shy, soft-spoken man. He was a man's man and a hitter's hitter," said Valentine, who spoke at Buckner's eulogy. "He was a spectacular hitter, great friend, great guy. ... I taught him to be a big mouth and he went in and said they weren't giving him enough money and they traded him. He should have been a Dodger for life."

I could've kept him on the Dodgers for awhile, but I figured I had to be a responsible reporter. I brought up the new Mets manager Carlos Beltran and Valentine seemed fine with the move. He said Beltran is "easy to like" and basically added that the Mets are so good that Beltran could be "the right person at the right time," and finished in that characteristic Valentine way, saying the Mets would have a "wire-to-wire finish" next season.

I then asked him about the hot issues in baseball because that's what a reporter does when he has someone with 40 years of baseball experience in front of him. (I would like to add that the local TV station, which was also there, asked him nothing about these issues, so all TV viewers got out of Valentine was "baseball is memories and baseball is families" and that is the reason why you SHOULD SUBSCRIBE TO A NEWSPAPER).

I asked Valentine about the Astros sign-stealing controversy and he dismissed it as "overblown," saying that we've been talking about this since his father-in-law was pitching to Bobby Thomson and the Giants were using a telescope and buzzers to alert batters about pitches. He believes the responsibility lies with each team to ensure that their signs are not being stolen.

I asked him about MLB's plans to reconfigure the minor leagues, potentially eliminating more than 40 minor league teams. Valentine said he hopes it's just a threat by MLB to get the minor leagues to contribute some money for running their own teams. His fear (and mine, and a lot of other people's) is that if MLB does eliminate those teams, that's many, many people who will not come back to baseball.

At one point in the interview, he received a call from a college baseball player who apparently just got hit in the face by a baseball and was recovering. Valentine left to take the call and I thought, "well, I guess that's the end of the interview."

I got busy talking to our photographer and then going over to talk to Wockenfuss, and Valentine was talking to some other people. Then, about 30 minutes later, while I was chatting with the photographer, Valentine walked up to me and said, "so, where were we?"

I would like to say that this never happens with pro athletes. If they get away from your clutches, they're gone for good. I was impressed and I can see why Valentine landed in TV.

I started to talk to him about Wockenfuss and his dementia and how he believes it was caused by the collisions he suffered in baseball and high school football. Valentine supported the home plate rule enacted by MLB in 2014. But he added he doesn't like the rule at second base that attempts to eliminate contact.

"I'm glad they did the catcher's rule because it was getting out of hand," he said. "I'm not happy about the second base rule, only because I thought that was a spectacular part of the game that no longer exists, a real athletic event, a real teamwork event, everything needed to be right. I think that it's caused a lot of where you see the runs that aren't being scored, I think a lot of runs aren't scored because it's too easy to turn a double play. And now anybody can play second base. It used to be a skill.

"You always knew what was happening (at second base). At home plate, there are a lot of times, you got hit, you didn't know where it was coming from. You were always prepared for battle at second base. They were coming, you had a certain amount of time, you had to do your dance and get the hell out of there or pay the consequences. (In home plate collisions), you're standing still at home plate, they're running 60 miles an hour, it's a little unfair advantage."

I had brought my Valentine baseball cards just because it had worked out so well with Johnny Wockenfuss. But Valentine didn't much care. "I see these all the time," he said. Later, he added, "wow, you have all of them in here." So at least he was a little impressed.

I had this one in there, too. I don't think he saw it. My guess is this doesn't get sent to him to sign much since it's so flimsy. I find it highly entertaining.

But he does know his baseball cards. A couple of people were coming up to him and asking him to sign some things (this appearance wasn't announced heavily, probably on purpose, so Valentine wasn't mobbed with people).

One person gave him this card:

 Bobby pointed out that he isn't really wearing an Angels uniform in this card. He knew that Topps had painted over his Dodger uniform. He told the guy, "see, that's in Dodger Stadium." The guy had no idea. Of course, I knew all about it.

Eventually everyone sat down for dinner and the photographer and I had a nice Italian meal (every once in awhile, this job is OK). The former coach then introduced everyone, including Wockenfuss, and then Valentine.

Valentine was very entertaining as the guest speaker as you can imagine. He was very comfortable with the whole thing, in fact, although he knew probably only one person in the room. That always amazes me how easygoing some people can be in situations like that.

Someone asked him "what the hell happened" with the Red Sox and Valentine claimed he was hired to figure out who the troublemakers were in the locker room and said that 16 players were no longer on the team by the next year. (He also said a couple of pitchers on the team really disliked Kevin Youkilis. I was able to guess one of the pitchers by process of elimination. It's someone who also played for the Dodgers. And the Marlins. And now I think you know).

There were a few things I learned about Valentine from that event. I never knew he was a Yankee fan. He rooted for Mickey Mantle as a kid. He was right at home at the event because it was filled with Yankee fans. One fan asked him if Jeter would go into the Hall unanimously and Valentine gave him a flat "no."

 After 2 1/2 hours, the event was over. I went back out to my car, and when I was playing back the recording to make sure everything was there (I was traumatized once about 25 years ago by my tape recorder failing to work and losing the entire interview), Valentine and his friend got in their car next to me and drove off, back to Connecticut. Valentine had an event the following morning in which he had to introduce Yankees GM Brian Cashman.

It was quite a blast, standing face-to-face, one-on-one with someone who I have seen on TV so many times, seen interviewed so many times.

When I gave those cards to Valentine, he said, "What are these? A gift?" and part of me wanted to grab them right back. "Crap," I thought. "He's going to want them and I'm going to have to re-complete like seven different sets!"

Later, when he was sitting at a table signing some memorabilia, he asked me, "What do you want me to do with these? Do you want me to sign them?"

Talk about conflicted. As a journalist I'm not supposed to ask for autographs while on the job. But HE ASKED ME.

It'd be pretty cool to have the '72 Dodger one autographed anyway.

But, still, I said no.

I was there for the story. And I got a good story.

And a blog post. I got to continue the Brush With Greatness series for one more post.