"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

And Bobby Valentine Punched Me in the Mouth

Bobby Valentine went on the radio yesterday and it didn’t go well. He talked to reporters about his interview at the ballpark last night.

Over at Sports on Earth, Emma Span considers what’s turned into a misbegotten chapter in the career of one Bobby V.

[Featured Illustration: Justin Peele]

2 comments

1 Greg G   ~  Sep 6, 2012 3:02 pm

Great job Emma!

Baseball needs lightning rods like Bobby V. The game is less interesting without them. Thankfully the Yanks don't have him as a manager though.

Just imagine how many more times Billy Martin would have been hired and fired by George, if they were still alive.

I think the Sox media is tougher than the NY media. I think the players also were not onboard for Bobby's hire to begin with, and were looking to revolt.

It was pretty inconceivable to me that they could figure out a way to get the Dodgers to take Crawford and Beckett's contracts off their hands and not pay a lot more freight, but that was what Adrian's contract allowed them to do. Now it seems as if maybe he wasn't just the sweetener to the deal, but somebody who they wanted to get rid of because he was a negative clubhouse presence too?

As someone brought up hating the Sox, it is sad to look at their team now. Part of me is happy that the Yanks don't have to compete with them too, but there is also a joy in vanquishing the Bosox.

I hope they come back with a good team next year, and that the Yanks are just that much better than them.

2 Bruce Markusen   ~  Sep 6, 2012 5:52 pm

Some people have made Valentine out to be the village idiot, but he is actually one of the smartest managers around. He knows the game inside-out. His problem is his personality. He's just very odd, the kind of guy who can twist your words and make a harmless conversation into a full-boil controversy.

I don't think he's done a good job in Boston this year, but I lay most of the blame on the Red Sox players, where it should be. That clubhouse has been full of vipers, even though some of them (like Beckett and Youkilis) have been cleared out. They need to clean house over the winter, not just the manager, but a good portion of the veterans, too.

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver