Robert John Valentine, nicknamed “Bobby V”, is a former American professional baseball player and manager. Valentine played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1969, 1971–72), California Angels (1973–1975), New York Mets (1977–78), and Seattle Mariners (1979) in Major League Baseball. He managed the Texas Rangers (1985–1992), the New York Mets (1996–2002), and the Boston Red Sox (2012) of MLB, as well as the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (1995, 2004–2009). Valentine has also served as the Director of Public Safety & Health for the city of Stamford, and an analyst for ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. Since 1980, Valentine has owned and operated Bobby V’s Restaurant & Sports Bar, a sports bar that is located in his hometown of Stamford. He has been the athletic director at Sacred Heart University since July 2013. Sacred Heart opened a $21.8-million fitness facility called the Bobby Valentine Health and Recreation Center last year. Valentine helped to found the Mickey Lione, Jr., Scholarship Fund, which awards scholarships to Stamford sophomores who excel off the field and exemplify the values that Lione instilled in his athletes and students. Valentine was named the Eastern College Athletic Conference administrator of the year in 2018, and has received numerous awards both for his athletic successes and philanthropy.

Arranged by Bryan Hooper

Bryan’s summary of the talk:

Bobby Valentine took us through a peripatetic journey of his memories, stopping off at numerous points to reminisce on highlights from an incredibly full and fascinating life, and then engaged in a lively and entertaining discussion session with our members.

Items of note from his talk were:

  • His grandparents arrived in America possessing the grand sum of $12.22.
  • He was the only three-year, all-state football player ever named in Connecticut.
  • The first manager he worked for in baseball was Tommy Lasorda of the LA Dodgers.
  • His first restaurant was opened in Stamford 40 years ago on the site of the former Stagecoach Café.
  • Bobby V was the grand marshal of the Columbus Day parade in New York in 2001.
  • He was the first non-Japanese to manage a major baseball team in Japan.
  • Sacred Heart University honored him by naming their new fitness center after him in 2019.
  • His production company is producing a film from the book “The Greatest Beer Run Ever.”

He attributed his success to “hard work plus good luck,” and “doing the right thing for the right reason.”

Bobby V’s presentation and discussion attracted one participant shy of one hundred on our Zoom feed, and provoked the most strongly positive reactions from members we have seen since the Covid crisis began:

“Great time well spent!”

“One of best ever!”

“Bobby V certainly gave a great presentation, is a wonderful speaker (and showman!).”

“Today’s meeting was particularly a fun time with Bobby V.”

“Excellent talk today.”

“So nice to have 90 minutes during which I could simply enjoy stories about his interesting life.”

“Thanks for getting Bobby Valentine for today’s DMA presentation.  He was just terrific!”

Video of presentation: https://youtu.be/ChUPi4FtY3Q