We card bloggers aren't the mushy type. If we're going to blog a Valentine's Day-themed post, it better be about Bobby or Ellis or Fred. Or at least show some red or pink parallels.
I've done it all before and don't have anything else clever to write about this fake holiday. So I thought I'd lean in all the way and show most of the cards from Bobby Valentine's career.
I collected Ellis Valentine's cards as a kid, I was always a fan. Fred Valentine was before my time. But Bobby Valentine has been there for the duration. His Topps card career (excluding the Mets managing days) nearly syncs up with my run of Topps complete sets, from 1970-92. He's only missing from 1970 and 1981-84.
He also reappeared in Panini Donruss last year with this weird thing in which it appears his uniform number slid down his jersey.
Finally, I have a connection to Valentine, as tenuous as it may be. I interviewed him just over five years ago, in a banquet hall, just him and me. That same night, I'm still pretty proud to say, I introduced Valentine to former Tigers catcher Johnny Wockenfuss. These are two guys who knew of each other but their paths didn't really cross during their MLB careers (maybe in 1979 when Valentine with the Mariners? I don't have time to do the research).
His cards have had more meaning since that night. So let's take a look at very eclectic group of cards for someone who was almost always considered "a common" in the collecting world. (Perhaps in Japan, it was a different story).
Valentine's first card arrived in 1971 Topps and he shared space with pitching prospect Mike Strahler. This is the only time that Topps would refer to Valentine as "Bob".
I have two cards because one is for the team set and one for the complete set. I debate over which set should get the more-worn card.
The only "real" Dodger card of Valentine's career, which speaks to the time period. Valentine was a big prospect in the Dodgers organization and if he began his career in the past 30 years, he would have had about 27 cards as a Dodger within his first year.
This, along with the Bill Buckner card, were the first Dodger cards from the 1972 set in my collection.
This 1973 card shows Valentine painted into an Angels uniform after being traded from the Dodgers on Nov. 28, 1972. During Valentine's appearance at the banquet five years ago, he signed for fans, and as I mentioned in that blog post I linked (and also in a Beckett magazine article), he pointed out to a fan that he is really playing for the Dodgers in the picture on this card, pointing out the Dodger Stadium background, etc. The fan was amazed.
My favorite-looking Valentine card and the color used for the Angels in the 1974 set really goes nicely with his name. But this card came out around nine months after he broke his leg while catching his spikes on the outfield fence while trying to make a catch. He didn't play the rest of the 1973 season and it ended his ability as a speedster.
No surprise that 1975 was the beginning of the static poses for Valentine. No more action shots like the previous two cards. The card back finally gets around to mentioning his injury and adds that he has been "slow in recovering."
Valentine was traded to the Padres in September of 1975. He played in just 33 games total for the Angels and Padres and getting sent to the Padres in the 1970s was not a good sign for your career. It's quite amazing that Topps was able to get two cards of Valentine as a Padre because over a season-plus with San Diego, Valentine played in just 22 games. He spent most of 1976 in Hawaii, playing in Triple A.
Valentine came to the Mets in the "Midnight Massacre" deals in June 1977 in which the Mets sent Dave Kingman to the Padres and Tom Seaver to the Reds. He hit just .181 for the rest of the season with New York in '77. But he was much better in 1978, appearing in 69 games and hitting .269.
Still, Valentine is looking more dour as his baseball cards progress.
He wrapped up his playing career with the Mariners -- another bottom-feeding team at the time -- after being released by the Mets and signing with Seattle as a free agent. He appeared in 62 games and hit .276. And, hey, he's got his smile back!
After five years, and working as a coach for the Mets, Valentine was hired by the Rangers as manager in 1985. He was the youngest manager in the majors at the time.
The 1980s was a good time for managers on baseball cards, all those poor mid-1990s managers got ignored. Valentine even appeared twice in the 1987 set. Look at that card on the right, that's two ex-Dodgers there.
A whole bunch more manager cards (he finally got a dugout shot in 1989). Valentine's career with the Rangers was pretty long before eventually getting fired in 1992.
Valentine appears in minor league sets in 1994 and 1996. In between, he took a job with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific League. He led the team to a second-place finish in 1995 but was fired in a dispute with the management.
Valentine became manager of the Mets late in the 1996 season but card companies were shunning managers at the time (kind of like now). He did not appear as the Mets manager in Topps sets until the 2001 set. These are his two Mets manager cards for Topps.
I don't have these cards (I could've sworn I had the 2002 one). This was during my collecting hiatus, which was great because I could handle the Mets' black uniforms only in small doses.
My most recent Valentine card is the 2004 All-Time Fan Favorites card at the top of the post.
Valentine returned to the managerial job with the Lotte Marines in 2004 and was wildly successful and hailed for his promotional efforts through the next four, five years.
Valentine later became manager for a season with the Red Sox in 2011 (2012), which was not a success at all. And there is no evidence of it on baseball cards. I wish there was. It would be better than that Panini thing.
I've written about Valentine several times on the blog and it's not a wonder as he's probably the most colorful major league figure of my generation outside of someone like Reggie Jackson. I was amazed at how receptive and personable he was during my interview and could immediately see why he drew all the media attention, got the ESPN broadcasting job, etc.
So there's my blog Valentine -- so to speak -- on Valentine's Day (P.S. I'm happily married). I don't know if I'll ever write about Bobby Valentine again, I think I've run out of words. But if there's anyone who could produce something new to write about, it's probably him.
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