THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100360
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Norfolk Tides manager Bobby Valentine is being courted by a Japanese professional baseball team and will leave Thursday on a 10-day trip to Japan to explore the possibility of managing the Chiba Lotte Marines.
``I'll go there and see what the situation is,'' Valentine said Friday from his home in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is recuperating from intestinal surgery. ``Nothing's been offered. I'm very intrigued and very flattered. I think it would be real challenging, real exciting.''
Valentine, who has been to Japan on three trips connected with major league baseball, said he will view Japanese League play for the first time and watch his potential team in action. Team representatives suggested Valentine visit during the World Series next month. However, Chiba will not be in the playoffs, so Valentine asked to come sooner.
Former major leaguers Mel Hall and Hensley Meulens play for Chiba, near Tokyo.
The opportunity to be what he believes would be the first former major league manager to manage in Japan is intriguing, said Valentine, who directed the Texas Rangers from 1985 to 1992. It would also put him at the forefront of baseball's international expansion, which Valentine said is on the way.
``They've never had a big-league manager manage there before, I don't think,'' he said. ``I'd like to see if that concept wouldn't work, where they could get ready for international expansion. I've always thought that was one of the things that was inevitable in the game.
``They keep talking about the talent being depreciated with expansion. The only other talent pool is in Japan, the only other professional baseball league in the world. The only credible one.''
Valentine said he first was contacted about the possible managerial job in July, when the Marines' pending general manager visited him at Harbor Park, along with an interpreter. Valentine said he had met the general manager - a former top player, coach and manager and a current commentator - five years ago when Valentine was part of a ``baseball summit'' and clinic in Tokyo.
Valentine had a one-year contract to manage the Tides for $65,000, plus benefits. Before he left the team in late August to have surgery to correct diverticulitis, Valentine, 44, said a return to the Tides was likely unless a major league job presented itself.
Though the job might be in the Japanese major leagues, Valentine said he did not think that would harm his chances of returning to the American big leagues.
``I wouldn't think it would do anything more than delay it a little,'' said Valentine, who said he did not know the length of contract or amount of money Chiba was prepared to offer. ``It's still baseball, a high level of baseball. If I did something exciting there, it could be a feather in my cap.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Bobby Valentine
``Flattered'' by interest
by CNB