Frank Walks Episode 24: Bobby Valentine presented by BodyArmor

Barstool Sports

Frank The Tank | Frank Walks

Transcript

00:00Well, you know, it is my pleasure to be joined by a Mets legend.

00:06You know, I personally think that next to Gil Hodges,

00:10this is the best manager the Mets ever had.

00:13I'm talking about Bobby Valentine,

00:15who did more with Les from 1997 to 2002,

00:20leading them to consecutive playoff appearances and the 2000 World Series.

00:24Let's go for a walk with Bobby Valentine.

00:28And this walk is powered by body armor.

00:40The history of your legs.

00:41I mean, in 73, right here, you broke your leg on the wall.

00:45Wow, right there I did. I ran into the wall.

00:48It's still crooked, right? Look at it. Yeah.

00:51And I didn't catch the ball.

00:54Yeah, I need to get it. I got a contract for next year, so I guess that's it.

00:58So you ended the 1960s with the Mets.

01:01And in 97, you started here.

01:03In 97, this year's Mets team is kind of reminding me of that 97 team.

01:08Interesting.

01:10That they both got off to bad starts, turned it around.

01:14Back then, there was only one wild card.

01:16But this year, there's three, of course.

01:18And they've got themselves right in the thick of the race.

01:21And the first year manager, or first full year manager in your case,

01:26and they had like a spirit that they overachieved.

01:30And I felt that that was a hallmark of your Mets teams,

01:33is that they always overachieved outperform what you would expect.

01:38I mean, Benny Agliani, Matt Franco, these guys.

01:42Well, maybe they were undervalued.

01:44And they played up to what their value really was,

01:49because I thought they were spectacular.

01:51On a team, Benny Agliani, Matt Franco, Desi Rellenberg, the game leader, all those guys.

01:57So you never really excite people, but you always felt that you got the best out of them.

02:00Well, they played well.

02:02Of course, that playoffs was crazy.

02:04You had to win those three games against Pittsburgh.

02:08You had three games, three cities, three days.

02:12You beat Pittsburgh, voted Cincinnati.

02:16Al Leiter.

02:30Al Leiter, who just had one of the greatest games in Mets history that day.

02:36And Gardner-Alfonso, a couple of big hits.

02:39And then the next day you faced Randy Johnson.

02:42And, you know, I got to say this.

02:45You know, there's a lot of times where, like, the no-name hits just come out there,

02:48and you just go, you know, you've got to decide.

02:50This guy's got no-name hits, he's going to shut them down.

02:52But for some reason, the Mets ate Randy Johnson alive.

02:57Super Joe, right?

02:58Yeah, Super Joe.

02:59Super Joe, good night.

03:01Yeah, Todd Graff was going to swing it every once in a while in there.

03:05And Fox, yeah, Randy didn't have a great time.

03:08No, the Mets always gave him fits.

03:12I remember when he took the Yankees.

03:13I remember when he met the Yankee game in 2006,

03:16and the Mets just tore him apart that day.

03:20Yeah, he never really cared for me.

03:22He was an SC guy.

03:23I went to the SC.

03:24All that nonsense.

03:25You know, Frank, when I got to manage the All-Star game,

03:29you were going to put $2,000 on it.

03:31That was like 2000, 2001.

03:33I had a choice between Randy Johnson and Curt Chilling to start the All-Star game.

03:40I called their manager, Bob Lindley, in Arizona.

03:44I said, listen, they're both having great first halves.

03:47One of them has to start.

03:48One of them's not.

03:49I mean, they should start.

03:50He said, Curt Chilling.

03:52So I announced Curt Chilling, and Randy took a personal offense.

03:55So we were going back to Seattle where we had started.

03:58You know, he was having a better year.

04:00He didn't particularly like Curt.

04:02And I announced the other guy to be the starting pitcher.

04:06But you know what happens?

04:07We get to Seattle.

04:09Curt does a little warm-up the day before the game and then cuts the CB

04:13and says, I can't go tomorrow.

04:15So instead of Curt Chilling, we had to go out on Randy Johnson to start like this.

04:21We could start the game.

04:24And he said, yeah, but we're giving three innings.

04:27And that's the game that Cal Ripken winds up hitting his last home run,

04:32his last game played in All-Star.

04:34Now, I remember that game.

04:37You had permission for Tommy Lasorda to be their base coach.

04:40Yeah.

04:42Yeah, Tommy and I were together in minor leagues.

04:44And so now in managing All-Star,

04:47he has a special case exception with Tommy Unicorn.

04:52He'd seen Unicorn.

04:53He begs me to go out with Coach Thurden.

04:55You've seen the highlights.

04:56But all of a sudden, Black Guerrero swings at this slider.

04:59I think baseball should do that more often.

05:02Yeah, bring them back.

05:03Bring back legendary people.

05:05I mean, it's awesome.

05:07We don't need to see an active manager on Durham-based commercial base line.

05:11Let's bring some legends.

05:13Like next year, it's going to be in Atlanta.

05:15So put Chipper Jones at the Durham-based coaching box.

05:18I think that would be a nice reunion.

05:21And, of course, $2 will go to the World Series.

05:23I think it's great.

05:24That's what we're all about.

05:28Good.

05:29Sure.

05:30And the World Series reports that year.

05:35Yeah, the playoffs in the World Series were amazing.

05:39You know, Johnny Frank was breaking up.

05:41Oh, that was…

05:42Barry Bonds and Mason Lovett, you know.

05:44That was one of the great moments.

05:46Yeah, it was a great moment.

05:47And can I tell you, after that game,

05:49and the Giants panel in there,

05:52and they put more games than us,

05:54and a bunch of paper, five shots, and all that stuff.

05:56Barry Bonds, dressed in his suit, came into my office to congratulate me.

06:01Oh, that's nice.

06:02Huh?

06:03He gives a lot of…

06:04Barry Bonds.

06:05He gives a lot of slack.

06:06Bad dress.

06:07And it's only bad dress.

06:08Barry Bonds, the greatest hitter of his time.

06:11I mean, all this…

06:13All this stuff that we've…

06:15I mean, just…

06:17I personally think, basically, baseball is the play that never happens.

06:21Of course.

06:22Not the players.

06:23Of course.

06:24Not the…

06:25And any player that used steroids…

06:27Okay, we're going to recognize it as a steroid error.

06:30We recognize the dead ball error.

06:32Everyone who has all three numbers, all three credentials,

06:35should be in the Hall of Fame.

06:37That includes McGuire, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, everyone.

06:42Roger Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod, you name it.

06:45Well, it's interesting that it's the place that houses the records of our game,

06:51and the greatest players of our game,

06:53and the greatest pitcher in my era.

06:56And before, it's Roger Clemens, seven, signed up.

07:00And the greatest hitter is Barry Bonds.

07:02And he could have had five or six MVPs among all three.

07:07It was without a doubt the best hitter of his generation and others.

07:12And Rod Clemens.

07:13I hate that guy.

07:14I hate him.

07:15He's a person.

07:16Personal feelings aside, he was so damn good.

07:20Yes, he was.

07:21But the whole thing with Piazza just always struck me.

07:26Yeah.

07:28I read a book about him.

07:31Valentine's Play, plug it.

07:33Thanks, Rick.

07:35What about it?

07:36But I was thinking about how you just like, and you always did get along with Steve Collins.

07:42That was what we said.

07:43Well, actually, at the beginning, we were two peas in a pod.

07:48We came up basically together.

07:50I came to the big leagues from the minor league system,

07:53and he was the minor league director.

07:55So we worked hand-in-hand in the minor leagues.

07:58So Colin Joe back there took place,

08:01and Steve became the general manager,

08:04and we were together.

08:06And I remember that era was the beginning of this new era,

08:13the new era of analytics,

08:16this new era of the general manager holding the trump card.

08:21It's not the manager anymore.

08:23And Steve and Billy D.

08:25I'm from the minor leagues.

08:28We're in the minor leagues together.

08:30Right?

08:31So they knew each other.

08:32They were peers.

08:33And now Billy's got a book script about him.

08:35And everyone's giving him all the credit for his team.

08:40And Steve was my in-manager.

08:42In-manager.

08:44How do you compare Steve and Steve?

08:47I mean, I thought, like I said,

08:49I always thought you were one of the best managers I've ever had,

08:51except you may not know about this.

08:53In 1978, you were the best.

08:5678.

08:57Yeah.

08:58Yeah.

08:59You won a contest.

09:01Wow.

09:02The largest bubble.

09:04Wow.

09:05By a baseball player.

09:06By Tops.

09:07Yeah.

09:08And you know what happened?

09:10They had this major mistake.

09:12I had to blow the bubble into it to get it bigger.

09:15And then I made a big blow, and the bubble got bigger,

09:18and it didn't stick and it broke.

09:19I could have blown it bigger.

09:21I like it.

09:23But it was a tough competition against Rusty Styles,

09:26I remember.

09:27You know, this has been a fun time,

09:29welcoming you, talking to you.

09:31This is it.

09:32That's it.

09:33Is there any charities you want to promote?

09:35Well, you know, the Nickelodeon Fund that I started in Stanford,

09:39Connecticut with a bunch of my friends in 1999,

09:43which gives scholarships to high school students

09:47in all the high school areas.

09:50We've given over $1,500,000 for the scholarships since 1999.

09:55This is the 25th anniversary.

09:57We're having a big shindig on October 17th,

10:00and everyone's invited to Stanford, Connecticut.

10:03Well, if you're committed to Stanford,

10:05join Bobby V for a good cause.

10:08Nickelodeon Fund.

10:09Nickelodeon Fund.

10:10Nickelodeon.org.

10:13And I don't know if I'm going to put this on video,

10:15because I don't know if I want to talk a little bit more.

10:17Steve Traxler.

10:19Yeah, still a friend.

10:21It might be a great time.

10:22Remember how slow he was?

10:24That's what I want to talk about.

10:27I want to bang my head.

10:30Mountain of my beliefs.

10:32He came out almost two and a half minutes.

10:34Look at this, Steve, my guy.

10:37You calling him right tonight?

10:40I'm kidding.

10:41You had a good night last night.

10:43I like it.

10:45I'll come down and see you.

10:46Thanks, though.

10:48See you, Bobby.

10:49See you, Tony.

10:51You know who that is?

10:52Yeah, the umpire.

10:53And what that group is right there?

10:56These are the four Italian umpires.

10:58The first I know.

11:00The first four Italian umpires.

11:03What about Phil Pozzi?

11:05I haven't seen him.

11:06That's Phil in London City.

11:08I actually did ask Phil in Randazzo.

11:10Phil was actually from my town.

11:12I'm not kidding.

11:13I live in Belleville.

11:14I live in Belleville, New Jersey.

11:15Oh, I've been there for a year.

11:17Yeah, the ALS walk with Unico.

11:19I did that last year.

11:20I did the Unico walk last year.

11:22I grew up in Bloomfield, but I now live in Belleville.

11:25And Bloomfield, Belleville, and Nutley are all interconnected.

11:29And yeah, Steve Traxler.

11:31The way he just slowed down.

11:32I remember going to a game.

11:35You weren't there, actually.

11:36You were not there when this happened.

11:37This was a year later.

11:382003?

11:39Yeah.

11:40And it was like a hot and humid day against the Dodgers.

11:42Yeah.

11:43And it was like the crowd was starting to say,

11:45throw the ball.

11:46Throw the ball.

11:48And Ray might be a great guy, but he drove me nuts.

11:51He got faster.

11:53Even when he was good, though, he just drove me nuts.

11:57Yeah, his stuff wasn't 100 miles an hour,

12:00but I think he was a great guy.

12:01Well, the pitch clock.

12:02The pitch clock.

12:04He's one of the reasons they invented the pitch clock.

12:06Well, maybe.

12:08But thank you for joining me.

12:09This has been fun.

12:10Good to see you, bro.

12:11It's been great, and like I said,

12:13I personally do believe that you are the second-best manager in Mets history.

12:19Gil Hodges, that's a...

12:22Top five's good for me.

12:23It's okay.

12:24I'm just running the race.

12:25It's Gil Hodges.

12:27He's safe.

12:28He was fun to play against.

12:30Gil Hodges, to me, is safe.

12:32Right?

12:33He's safe.

12:34Yeah.

12:36Okay, thanks, bro.

12:37Thanks again.

12:38Good luck.

12:39You and your show.

Category

Transcript

Recommended