Our Daily Bobby, 2011

[Frayed Knot]

Meanwhile, Japanese spring training has been interrupted and the season openers pushed back.
Don't think a specific starting date has been determined yet.

[Willets Point]

Frayed Knot wrote: Meanwhile, Japanese spring training has been interrupted and the season openers pushed back. Don't think a specific starting date has been determined yet.

I can't imagine that that the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles based in Sendai are going to be able to play any home games any time soon.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

My friend in Chiba has evacuated for Kyoto. Says aftershocks are "unsettling," grocery stores empty.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Tokyo Apache basketballers have cancelled the remainder of thier season, but...

Instead, the Tokyo Apache organization and staff will join forces with Evolution Capital Management and owner Michael Lerch in funding relief projects and organizations. The combined group, which will also include former NBA star and former Tokyo Apache head coach Joe Bryant as well as baseball legend Bobby Valentine, will contribute over 1 million US dollars to such projects and, as the situation stabilizes, aim to participate in programs that will help the people that have been devastated by this disaster.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

The Apache play in Sydney Kings colors (which also happens to be Lakers colors!) - they have a pretty spiffy-looking logo.

I wonder why he chose that particular charity?

[G-Fafif]

Bobby commences to expunging the ghost of Joe Morgan on ESPN tonight, doing World Champion Giants at Don Mattingly's Dodgers.

As a broadcaster, I mean.

[TransMonk]

I caught a couple innings of the Dodger game last night. I thought the Shulman/Hershiser/Valentine team was pretty decent. WAY better than Miller and Morgan.

[soupcan]

March 30, 2011 Take Dip Out of the Ballgame By BOBBY VALENTINE Stamford, Conn. EVERYONE who�s ever been around the game of baseball, whether as a player, manager, youth coach or dedicated fan, knows the feeling of anticipation that comes with opening day. That sense of hope and excitement that we feel today is one of baseball�s great gifts, and we should no longer allow it to be diminished by a blot on our sport: the use of smokeless tobacco at Major League Baseball games. Everyone in baseball knows someone who chews � it�s estimated that a third of players use some form of smokeless tobacco. Even I chewed during games when I was really bored. For many of us, it is simply part of the sport. It wasn�t until I had chewed for years that I realized what a bad example I was setting and quit. I also gave it up for my health: smokeless tobacco causes oral cancer, mouth lesions, gum disease and tooth decay; it has been linked to heart attacks and pancreatic cancer. Smokeless tobacco use by young people may also encourage them to try cigarette smoking, the nation�s leading cause of preventable deaths. Quitting for me was easy, and so far my tobacco use doesn�t seem to have affected my health. Others haven�t been so lucky. Last fall, Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Famer who is now the coach at San Diego State University, announced he had parotid cancer, which he suspects was caused by years of chewing tobacco. Bruce Bochy, who managed the San Francisco Giants to a World Series title, has talked extensively about his own difficulty in quitting. So has Stephen Strasburg, the phenomenal young pitcher for the Washington Nationals who played for Gwynn in college and is now trying to quit tobacco, a struggle even though he is recovering from surgery and thus away from the familiar rhythms of baseball that make it so easy for players to start chewing. Major League Baseball has taken steps to discourage chewing tobacco, like providing medical advice and educational programs, but Strasburg and other players who continue to use tobacco are proof that these have failed. The pressure is too great: though tobacco was banned in the minors in 1993 and by most colleges as well, Strasburg has said that he started using it as a young player to imitate big leaguers. Indeed, chewing tobacco isn�t just part of the culture of baseball; it�s part of the allure. Young players look up to star players and copy them � the stance, the swing, the way they adjust their caps. Unfortunately, they also copy the bulge in the lip and the outline of tobacco cans in the uniform pocket. Nor is that allure limited to aspiring ballplayers. Smokeless tobacco use among high school boys has climbed 36 percent since 2003. The tobacco industry is spending record sums to market smokeless products, and is promoting them as a substitute for cigarettes. Major League players who chew tobacco on the field are, in effect, providing free advertising for these efforts. In response, several other sports organizations, including the National Hockey League and the N.C.A.A., have banned tobacco chewing by players and coaches. But Major League Baseball has not, even though it has banned smoking tobacco during games. This has to change. As they negotiate the 2012 contract, Major League Baseball and the players should include a comprehensive ban on the use of tobacco products during games. True, some players say tobacco use is nobody�s business � that tobacco is legal, that they are adults and that chewing tobacco is a personal choice. But they are public figures and need to recognize the added responsibility that the limelight brings. And they would still be free to use tobacco on their own time, just not while playing baseball. Major League Baseball has the opportunity to protect today�s players and provide positive role models to the millions of kids who want so much to be like their heroes. All it has to do is get tobacco out of the ballpark. Bobby Valentine, a former manager of the New York Mets, is an analyst for ESPN and the director of public safety, health and welfare in Stamford, Conn.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I never quite got how nobody rips their ass open sliding with tobacco cans in their pockets.

The answer is as easy as adding mandatory earflaps to helmets. Allow current users a grandfather clause and ban everybody else from using. Then this will be a strange and ugly memory in ten years.

[G-Fafif]

Bobby & Friends airlifted to Arlington to call Rangers-Red Sox. Probably dropped by the Texas dugout to make out the lineup for old time's sake.

[MFS62]

If you want to have breakfast with Bobby...
http://www.ctpost.com/baseball/article/Bobby-Valentine-to-speak-at-Danbury-Westerners-1324485.php

Later

[Valadius]

Um... what? Bobby V's weird analysis of Josh Hamilton's arm injury:

Karl Ravech: What was stupid about the play? Bobby Valentine: Well, it was the first inning and it was taking a chance with your best player and he did dive headfirst and it was a way of avoiding the slide and he knew that he shouldn't go and he did go, you know? And you know, there's indiscretion in this guy's life, he was stupid earlier and because of that, he can't take drugs now to help cure this injury and heal this injury. And that might have been dumb on everyone's part because, my gosh, it's the first inning, he's the MVP. They're scoring runs better than anybody in the league, you have to tag up on a fly ball in front of the dugout?

[Gwreck]

I'm not sure what drugs exist that would
a. Help heal a fractured humerus; and
b. Would somehow be off-limits to Hamilton due to his addictions.

[Guest Edgy DC]

He's referring to prescription pain killers, I gather.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Bobby Vee was referring to Hamilton's own remarks about the play: He said the coach told him to go but he was unsure about it, and kinda went in in that halfway committed frame of mind and hurt himself. Kinda douchy to blame the coach publicly, but 3rd base coaching is not for the thin-skinned.

I dunno what BV knows about Hamilton's drug use, what is or isn't ok for him to be using, but I suppose its a concern with him.

[metirish]

Sherman goes to bat for our Bobby


Buck�s success in Baltimore proves Bobby V deserves a shot, too

Buck Showalter has the Orioles playing hard and well and � most important after so many years as props for the AL East beasts to clobber � Baltimore suddenly is a franchise with a future. This is good for Bobby Valentine. Why? Well, you know how there are 30 Opening Day starters, but not 30 aces? The same goes for major league managers. Thirty men have the title. But there are not 30 men capable of truly doing the job. And two of those who can definitely do it sat on an ESPN set last year until late July, when the Orioles split up Showalter and Valentine. Full disclosure: I covered both Showalter and Valentine, and feel like I learned more about the sport from those two than any other 20 baseball men combined. But even with that gratitude, I understand why Showalter had to wait 3 1/2 years between major league managing stints Nos. 3 and 4, and why Valentine is still working at ESPN. Neither enters a room thinking someone there knows more about baseball than him. But here is the thing: They almost always are right. That does not play well in a thin-skinned atmosphere, especially since Showalter and Valentine do not mask antipathy for fools. When they think something is wrong, Showalter and Valentine are not patient � though a friend of Showalter insists, �Buck bites his tongue a lot more than he used to.� But even if Showalter and Valentine can be a handful for a front office, here is the best advice for those front offices: Get over it. The manager�s job is to maximize the skill of a roster, not to make the GM or farm director feel good about his insights or to have a whole organization sing Kumbaya in unison. A managerial job should not go to someone whose turn it is or who will docilely accept the dictates of the front office, even if inane. Again, there probably are not 30 people who possess the leadership skills, strategic chops, gravitas, communication talents and work ethic to truly manage in the majors. The Orioles finally hired someone who does, and Baltimore arrived at the Stadium yesterday, for a series opener that was rained out, with the AL�s best record (40-26) since Showalter�s takeover. That performance should inspire an enlightened front office to overcome concerns and hire Valentine, because he should be one of the 30. �I don�t think [showalter�s success] has anything to do with anything,� Valentine said, about his chance to get another job. �But who knows? But there is too much stuff out there that anyone can manage. But when you see the difference, you see the difference.� In other words, if you hire Art Howe or Stump Merrill, you get what you hired. But what do you get when you employ Showalter? �You get a manager,� Valentine said simply. �This is what he does. He plays a little golf and he�s a baseball manager. This is what fills his life.� Showalter�s advanced baseball mind is never in sleeper mode. He will manage a game hundreds of times in his head before actually managing it. He will look at every member of the organization, every piece of equipment and think about how it can be made better. No game will begin where the other manager is more prepared or has outworked Showalter. Alex Rodriguez called Showalter �a managing master,� despite their relationship in Texas souring in their year together, 2003. Still, A-Rod remembers playing golf with Showalter in November 2002 not long after he was hired, �and I realized by the fourth hole that he knew every player on every 40-man roster and their strengths and weaknesses. He lives this 24-7. He�s good at everything a manager does. He is a genius at managing a game, and also at being an architect of a 25-man roster.� Also at being a sheriff who cleans up the unacceptable; which is one huge reason the Yanks and Diamondbacks won World Series the year after he left: Showalter had done a lot of the heavy lifting for Joe Torre and Bob Brenly, respectively. Now he does more heavy lifting for an organization whose recent AL East chances have generally been kaput by this time of year. Instead a real baseball manager makes demands and gets results. �I have asked my team, �What are you willing to do to get from where we are to where you want to be?� � Showalter said. ��What will you sweat to do that others won�t? What are you willing to do to make [baseball] relevant in Baltimore again?� � The Orioles were willing to hire a real baseball manager. joel.sherman@nypost.com Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/buck_success_in_balt_proves_bobby_QJQpK0TbS4r1ePkDY4zDWN#ixzz1JQ04uDf5

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Um... what? Bobby V's weird analysis of Josh Hamilton's arm injury: Karl Ravech: What was stupid about the play? Bobby Valentine: Well, it was the first inning and it was taking a chance with your best player and he did dive headfirst and it was a way of avoiding the slide and he knew that he shouldn't go and he did go, you know? And you know, there's indiscretion in this guy's life, he was stupid earlier and because of that, he can't take drugs now to help cure this injury and heal this injury. And that might have been dumb on everyone's part because, my gosh, it's the first inning, he's the MVP. They're scoring runs better than anybody in the league, you have to tag up on a fly ball in front of the dugout?

If this weren't Bobby V, we'd be a little more knives-out about the drug-use-affect speculation, I suspect.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, there are probably pain killers that couldn't/shouldn't be used when dealing with a drug addict.
My reading of this is that Bobby also is referencing the idleness of down-time due to the injury being a potentially bad situation for Hamilton. It was this exact kind of exile from day to day playing that first led him down that road.

[Gwreck]

I have no doubt there are pain killers that Hamilton probably should stay away from. But pain killers neither cure nor heal Hamilton's injury. It's broken bone, not a sore leg.

It's not the dumbest thing ever said by a Sunday Night Baseball personality but it wasn't exactly genius either.

[G-Fafif]

Bobby V not always in sync with Hamiltons. I hear he doesn't even like to carry $10 bills.

July 1, 2001 Mets Decide to Cut Ties to Hamilton By TYLER KEPNER ATLANTA, June 30 � The acrimony that flared between Mets Manager Bobby Valentine and outfielder Darryl Hamilton on Friday continued today when Hamilton was designated for assignment. Valentine is offended because he believes Hamilton got his wish. Hamilton is hurt by the way his Mets career ended. The Mets have 10 days to trade or release Hamilton. They will assume the rest of his $3 million salary unless they can trade him. They offered Hamilton to the Baltimore Orioles for Delino DeShields, another unproductive left-handed-hitting outfielder who was designated for assignment last Monday. The Orioles would save money on the deal because DeShields makes more than Hamilton, but the Orioles do not perceive Hamilton as a fit and are unlikely to make the trade. Hamilton, 36, said he met with Valentine on Friday to discuss where he stood in the Mets' outfield rotation. ''I wasn't going in there demanding to be an everyday player,'' Hamilton said today by telephone from his home in Houston. ''At this point, I can't do that. That's fine with me.'' Valentine said he told Hamilton, a 13-year major league veteran, what he thought of him as a player, an assessment that surprised Hamilton. ''I never was derogatory; I was factual,'' Valentine said today. ''I said players ran on him in the outfield a lot, that his hits were not sharp and his outs were weak, and I didn't think he was an everyday player.'' Hamilton said he told Valentine in the meeting, ''You don't believe in me, I don't believe in you.'' Hamilton asked for his release, and Valentine suggested he quit. Later, when the argument moved from the manager's office to a hallway at Turner Field, Valentine asked Hamilton if he wanted to stay in the lineup that night. Hamilton, feeling belittled by Valentine's sarcasm, declined. ''If you don't like what you can do at work, you quit,'' Valentine said. ''Or you come to work and you get paid every day and you do whatever you're supposed to do. That's what it's all about. It's not either, 'I do what I want to do or pay me.' I hate that. And it's happened here too many times.'' Hamilton said that he took offense to the Mets' portrayal that he did not want to play and that his agent and brother, John Hamilton, had asked four times for the team to release or trade him. Hamilton, traded to the Mets in July 1999 by the Colorado Rockies, said he felt as if he was a scapegoat for the Mets' disappointing season. He is the latest player whose Mets career has ended in turmoil. ''You can't say I was in the clubhouse playing cards; you can't say I was out all night; you can't say I quit on the field,'' Hamilton said, referring to incidents that helped end the Mets careers of Bobby Bonilla, Todd Hundley and Rickey Henderson in recent seasons. ''You can do that with guys in the past, but you can't do that with me.'' Hamilton, in the last year of his contract, carried a .293 career average into this season but is hitting .214. His teammates spoke positively of him today. ''I think he handled it totally professionally,'' first baseman Todd Zeile said. ''I don't think he was a distraction and he was a quality teammate, a good guy.''

[metirish]

Gotta say I'm finding V a bit annoying on SNB , it's like him and Orel never stop talking ......a bit heavy on the MFY loving too for my taste.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I get the sense they are still feeling one another out. They are talking a lot tonite but didn't have much of anything to say during the opening day SFG-LAD game I watched.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

metirish wrote: Gotta say I'm finding V a bit annoying on SNB , it's like him and Orel never stop talking ......

Gigantic egos and microphones go together like a bowl of chili con carne and Ipecac syrup.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The Second Spitter wrote: metirish wrote: Gotta say I'm finding V a bit annoying on SNB , it's like him and Orel never stop talking ...... Gigantic egos and microphones go together like a bowl of chili con carne and Ipecac syrup.

Or, as they call it on the Bobby V's menu, the "Roberto Alomar, hold the wiener."

[Guest The Second Spitter]

I'm sure Roberto Alomar's held his fair share of wieners.

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I get the sense they are still feeling one another out. They are talking a lot tonite but didn't have much of anything to say during the opening day SFG-LAD game I watched.

no doubt and here is where Shulman is not taking charge I think , instead of him setting Hershiser and Valentine up to talk to their strengths it's as if they feel the need to fill a void. It's one of the things Cohen does great I think , Ron on pitching and Keith on hitting or the opposite at times.

There was a point during the game I thought Shulman must have left the building and Hershiser and Valentine were talking so much they talked over each other several times.

[Ceetar]

I'm drawing a blank on the specifics now, but there was definitely a point where Bobby brought up physics and the other two were basically staring at him like he had two heads.

[metirish]

Ceetar wrote: I'm drawing a blank on the specifics now, but there was definitely a point where Bobby brought up physics and the other two were basically staring at him like he had two heads.

I think Bobby was talking about the physics of giving fellatio to Cano around the second base bag.

[Ceetar]

metirish wrote: Ceetar wrote: I'm drawing a blank on the specifics now, but there was definitely a point where Bobby brought up physics and the other two were basically staring at him like he had two heads. I think Bobby was talking about the physics of giving fellatio to Cano around the second base bag.

yeah, he lost me with the 1-2-3 step thing he was talking about regarding Cano.

[Ceetar]

Oh, I remember now. They were doing that thing where they were breaking down how long it takes for the player to field, and then how long to throw to first, versus the runners time down the line. via Aldrus's close 'safe' at the bag.

Then they broke into discussion how the umpires are trained to watch for the foot and listen for the ball hit the glove. Bobby said they got the call right (graphic said it was .07s difference) despite the fact that sound travels slower than light.