THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410150347
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
In two weeks, Norfolk Tides manager Bobby Valentine plans to wake to a unique, exciting career opportunity in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Valentine said Friday he will fly to Japan on Oct. 28 with intentions of signing a two-year contract, with an option year, to manage the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League. He received the three-page contract this week and said everything appears in keeping with what was discussed during Valentine's two-week visit to Japan last month.
Valentine plans to take the document to Japan, sign it, be introduced as the new manager and start work immediately. First up is the team's three-week off-season training camp. The players get December and January off and begin spring training in February.
``I'm apprehensive and excited,'' Valentine, 44, said by phone from his home in Arlington, Texas. ``It's mind-boggling how many things this encompasses.''
Valentine, a Mets employee through October who will spend Sunday and Monday at their organizational meeting in Florida, would become the first American manager to manage a Japanese club.
But managing would only be part of his job. Helping to restructure a perennial losing team and organization from top to bottom - even redesigning the team's uniforms - will be a large part of the duties for which Valentine will make from $1 million to $2 million per year in salary, bonuses and other perks, including expense-paid trips for his wife and son to visit him.
The only thing that could scuttle the deal, Valentine said, is if Tatsuro Hirooka, a legendary figure in Japanese baseball, fails to sign on as Chiba's general manager as he has promised.
Valentine said it has been a badly kept secret in Japan that Hirooka, who has known Valentine for five years and who recruited him to be his manager, will take over as the GM after the Japanese World Series, which is about to begin. But Valentine said he would not totally commit until Hirooka signs.
Even so, Valentine has begun to tackle his landmark challenge.
He said he has lined up Tom Robson, a Texas Rangers coach for seven seasons when Valentine was their manager, to be one of his eight coaches. He has signed another American, Lenn Sakata, to manage Chiba's minor league team of 50 players.
He has begun to study Japanese language tapes, watch videos of his players and familiarize himself with their names, talk to agents of American players he might want to sign - to replace recently released Hensley Meulens and Mel Hall - and make arrangements for the Marines to spend February training at the San Diego Padres' complex in Peoria, Ariz.
Chiba, a city next to Tokyo, would play preseason games in Japan in March and start its 140-game season in April. Valentine would live in a three-bedroom condominium in the shadow of Japan's Disneyland. Paid for, of course, by the Lotte corporation, the team's owner and a corporation similar to the Wrigley company here, Valentine said.
``I just got over this thing, being tired from the surgery, where I can stay up late and wake up early and have a lot of energy,'' said Valentine, who had a portion of his colon removed in early September. ``I'm going to need it.
``This team hasn't won in 20 years, and for some reason (Hirooka) thinks there's a chance I'd be able to push the buttons to make it happen in the near future. They want to win and they want to establish a credibility factor badly. Hopefully I can do both.''
Valentine said he was not bothered by the idea of going to Japan while there are openings to possibly manage in the major leagues if he pursued them.
``You could have second thoughts if you sit around and worry about it,'' he said. ``As time goes on, there are always going to be jobs available. I don't know that they'll always be available to me, but there will be jobs opening up. I've got to do what I've got to do now.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Bobby Valentine:
``I'm apprehensive and excited. It's mind-boggling how many things
this encompasses.''
by CNB