THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 29, 1996 TAG: 9608290610
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON
LENGTH: 69 lines
That's the trait that's always propelled Valentine through baseball, and also held him back.
From his school days in Stamford, Ct., when he gave the girls lollipops on Valentine's Day, Bobby Valentine has operated with panache.
It's that style that has earned the former Tides manager, now skipper of the New York Mets, probably as many enemies in baseball as friends. At 46, the glib Valentine still exudes a cocky slickness, some say a know-it-all arrogance, that can charm you even as you search for a shovel and hip boots.
In Norfolk, where Valentine also managed in 1994, this played well. He was the most popular Tides manager ever. As a frontman for a Triple-A club, for whom winning baseball comes second to selling baseball, Valentine has no peer.
But like Dorothy's bucolic Kansas, Valentine's not in Norfolk anymore. The gloves are off in New York, and Valentine's reputation and alleged past sins as manager of the Texas Rangers were quickly thrown at him by restless fans and media soured by lousy baseball.
``Retread. Phony. Manipulator. Can't handle a pitching staff. Never won a thing. Tommy Lasorda's little boy. Why him?''
Ample air time and column inches have addressed the charges since Valentine's promotion Monday. Valentine, who as a minor leaguer lived under Lasorda's wing, handled them casually.
``I know what people think,'' Valentine told reporters. ``I know I've been accused of thinking that I invented the game. I didn't. I've just studied it and learned as much as I could about it.''
It hurt, though, when the Mets lost his debut Tuesday because of Valentine's decision to entrust Bobby Jones' 3-0 shutout of San Diego, with two on and no outs in the eighth, to a bullpen everyone knows is miserable - and that blew the lead on two pitches by Dave Mlicki.
``It looked like everyone knew what they were doing, except for me,'' Valentine said. ``I didn't know how to use the bullpen, obviously.''
That kind of misfire would have irked only the relatively few dogged fans among the thousands at Harbor Park each game. At Shea Stadium, it was huge, and fueled those who think Valentine simply is a mediocre manager.
In 1,186 games under Valentine from '85 to '92, the Rangers never reached the postseason, baseball's longest such streak. Valentine answers that with this:
``Ken Griffey Jr.'s never won a batting title, but he's a great hitter. The Mets have never had a pitcher pitch a no-hitter, and they've had some great pitchers. Some of the best managers are last right now. They're still great managers.''
Still, Valentine previously hinted his concern that a second big league chance might elude him. Since his firing by Texas in '92, he wasn't getting the calls or showing up on lists of managerial candidates. The baggage of his personality, it was said, was partly to blame.
In giving him the Tides' job twice, Mets executive vice president Joe McIlvaine said he valued Valentine's strong teaching skills. In giving him the Mets' job, McIlvaine said Valentine has the substance to back up the style - and to handle the hardball they play in New York.
``It's hard for me to believe,'' said Bob Apodaca, the pitching coach also elevated from Norfolk, of the cynical barrage Valentine met. ``That's not the man I have come to know. There is no one I know who knows more about every facet of the game than Bobby. ... It's like he's already looked in the back of the book for the answers.''
That's the trait that's always propelled Valentine through baseball, and also held him back. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bobby Valentine was immensely popular while managing the Norfolk
Tides, but has gotten a hostile reception from some in New York
since he was named manager of the Mets on Monday. by CNB