Now running….for Mayor of Stamford….No. 1, Bobby Valentine!
That’s right folks – Bobby Valentine, beloved former major-league player and manager, restauranteur (and possible inventor of the wrap), and current Athletic Director at Sacred Heart University, is looking to add another job title to his resume: Mayor of Stamford, Connecticut.
Valentine’s announcement started by saying that “it’s been great to see Stamford grow the way it has, and I want to lead us into that new world,” and included endorsements of him from a selection of Stamford residents and colleagues, including former Stamford mayor Michael Pavia.
At the end, Bobby V says that “the greatest commodity I have is my time, and I want to give my time and energy back to the city that has given me so much over my lifetime.”
Valentine, who turns 71 later this month, was born and raised in Stamford, and was a three-sport All-State selection at the now-defunct Rippowam High School. He was selected by the Dodgers with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1968 MLB Draft, beginning a 45-year run in the sport that included 10 major-league seasons with five teams – including two with the Mets in 1977-78 – and later saw him manage the Rangers, Mets (from 1996-2002, including the infamous disguise in the dugout), and Red Sox around two stints in Japan.
Bobby V has also been a broadcaster, spending multiple seasons in between managing gigs as part of ESPN’s baseball crew, and has been the AD at Sacred Heart in nearby Fairfield since 2013.
He has also been a fixture on the Stamford business scene during his career; Bobby V’s Sports Gallery Café has occupied multiple spaces in downtown Stamford since 1980 – and he has oft been seen in the building – and he owns a sports academy in the Springdale section, and he spent nearly a year in 2011-12 as the city’s Director of Public Safety, leaving for his final managerial gig with the Red Sox.
Valentine is running as an independent candidate, joining a field of hopefuls that includes incumbent Democratic Mayor David Martin (who succeeded Pavia in 2013) and Dem Caroline Simmons, who is currently in her fourth term as State Representative for the 144th district.
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