A Hatless 9/11 Brouhaha

[batmagadanleadoff]

Bobby Valentine reveals Mets� jealousy of Yankees in days after 9/11 attacks

Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine said Wednesday during a radio interview with WFAN that his Mets players were frustrated with the way the general public supposedly heralded the Yankees in the days and weeks following the Sept. 11 attacks. He said his players responded to community outreach projects while the Yankees were virtually nowhere to be found. Valentine said Wednesday on the 12th anniversary of the attacks that there was a sense of jealousy on the part of the Mets players in the days after the attacks because they felt like the Yankees were being credited for �bringing baseball back� even though it was the Mets players who reached out to New Yorkers by going to funerals and firehouses, he said. Valentine added that when his players were frustrated for supposedly being overlooked for their efforts, he told his team that it�s not about getting credit and instead should be about �doing the right thing.� �Let it be said that during the time from 9/11 to 9/21, the Yankees were (not around). You couldn�t find a Yankee on the streets of New York City. You couldn�t find a Yankee down at Ground Zero, talking to the guys who were working 24/7�Many of them didn�t live here, and so it wasn�t their fault. And many of them did not partake in all that, so there was some of that jealousy going around. Like, �Why are we so tired? Why are we wasted? Why have we been to the funerals and the firehouses, and the Yankees are getting all the credit for bringing baseball back?� And I said �This isn�t about credit, guys. This is about doing the right thing.�� The 63-year-old Valentine, who last served as the Boston Red Sox manager in 2012, is currently the athletic director at Sacred Heart University. He was with the Mets from 1996-02. The Yankees� Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter and Joe Torre as well as other current and now-former members of the organization visited rescue staging areas held at a New York hospital and other locations throughout the city four days after the attacks. Valentine said that Mike Piazza�s home run for the Mets in a game in New York against the Atlanta Braves 10 days after the attacks helped people �return to normalcy.� �We put on a good face. We tried to smile, we tried to laugh, we tried to be normal. But nothing could have set the tone more properly than Mike�s line drive over the left-field fence that I think really began to allow people to return to normalcy.�

http://tracking.si.com/2013/09/11/bobby-valentine-mets-yankees-911-attacks-mlb/

[Vic Sage]

"It's not about credit, it's about doing the right thing... so give us some credit for that, damn it!"

OK, Bobby, even if its true (and it might well be), complaining about this now makes you look really bad.

[G-Fafif]

From the Post, 9/27/2001 (free abstract of article in their archives):

It began Tuesday, when [Mike Stanton] said of the Yanks' contributions to the relief efforts, "It's not about oneupsmanship, it's not a PR ploy" - comments the Mets perceived as a shot at their public displays of helping out. Yesterday, Stanton said, "I don't think I have anything to apologize for." He conceded he mentioned the Mets specifically in comments, but that his words were taken out of context. Both organizations have done a great deal in the wake of the Trade Center tragedy. Shea Stadium was used as a staging area, and the Mets helped there. Both clubs visited Ground Zero and area firehouses. Both teams donated money, although the Mets' donation of a day's pay was publicized.

From the Hartford Courant of 9/30/2001:

Completing the oddness of the last week were the stories in New York about a Mets-Yankees rivalry regarding who was doing the most to help. Player rep Mike Stanton said the Yankees would keep their donations private, rather than make it a "PR ploy," and Mets manager Bobby Valentine said that was a "weak comment." Privately, Yankee players were angry at Valentine, believing he had taken Stanton's remarks out of context and fueled the controversy.

Silly to snipe over then. Silly to snipe over now. Mets were first on the ground. MFYs did their part eventually. Of course MFYs became the story because they're MFYs and it's the last 20 years.

Bobby V tends to rearrange facts and enhance opinions when relating stories from long ago. He let his vague recollection run away with itself. Sorry it looks bad. By all accounts few in a position like his did more when it counted.

[metirish]

I remember Stanton being a dick back then, I hated him when he joined the Mets after that.....my memory of Bobby then was him being very visible in helping out and helping people......he might overstate things but people shouldn't understate what he did, he was a great man back then, perfect for the time.

[ashie62]

Vic Sage wrote: "It's not about credit, it's about doing the right thing... so give us some credit for that, damn it!" OK, Bobby, even if its true (and it might well be), complaining about this now makes you look really bad.

This...

[Edgy MD]

He may need a neurological workup.

[Guest themetfairy]

metirish wrote: I remember Stanton being a dick back then, I hated him when he joined the Mets after that.....my memory of Bobby then was him being very visible in helping out and helping people......he might overstate things but people shouldn't understate what he did, he was a great man back then, perfect for the time.

This

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I was surprised that, in Ken Burns' addition to his epic "Baseball" documentary, he spends a lot of time on 9-11 -- almost all of it on the Yanks returning with a road game in Chicago and no mention of the Mets-Braves game and the ceremony and the Piazza homer and so on.

I can understand Bobby V getting his nose out of joint. And he's not one to hold back. But it does come off as petty.

[Edgy MD]

I'm not so surprised. Ken Burns have given the world wonderful stuff, but despite his tortured attempts at balance in stuff like his Thomas Jefferson bio, his scope has been as limited as most people's.

[Centerfield]

I love him, but I fear poor Bobby's starting to lose it.

I guess that ship has sailed. Now he should try to stay quiet.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Report: Bobby Valentine Loses TBS Gig Over Dumb 9/11 Comments

Last month, Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine said a bunch of dumb things about how his New York Mets did so much to support New York City in the aftermath of 9/11 while the Yankees sat back and did nothing. We've already demonstrated how flat-out wrong those comments were, and now it appears that they were also damaging to Valentine's career. Neil Best at Newsday reports that TBS had originally planned to bring Valentine on to work its studio show alongside Keith Olbermann and Pedro Martinez for the MLB playoffs, but ditched those plans because of Valentine's 9/11 comments: Two people familiar with what went down said Valentine was sunk by comments on WFAN Sept. 11 in which he criticized the Yankees� response � or lack thereof � in the days after the terrorist attacks of 2001. Good job, Bobby V. On the bright side, you'll have much more time to take sad bike rides

http://deadspin.com/report-bobby-valentine-loses-tbs-gig-over-dumb-9-11-co-1400604543

[G-Fafif]

Hope the Mets don't get all chickenspit over this and not have him on the field for Piazza Day. Unless Piazza hates him this week too.