Happy (Not) Bobby V Day!
Mets fans surely remember it like it was yesterday – but it was 22 years ago today, June 9, 1999, that then-manager Bobby Valentine was ejected in the 12th inning of a Mets-Blue Jays game for arguing a called catcher’s interference, and later returned wearing sunglasses and a fake mustache.
As Valentine told ESPN in 2019 on the 20th anniversary, blame Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura:
I went up into the clubhouse and two of my favorites, Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura, asked me what the heck I was doing up in the clubhouse when I was needed down in the dugout. I said, "I can't go down there." Robin threw me a hat, Orel threw me some sunglasses and said, "Just put these things on, take off your uniform and go down to the dugout." And I said, "Guys, it's a night game. I can't wear sunglasses down in the dugout."
They said, "Do it!" So I walk in the training room to look in the mirror, pulled the hat down a little and then looked down and saw the stickers that you put under your eyes on a day game. And I took them {and made a mustache]. I looked at them and they said no one will ever know. I went down to the dugout, and Orel was supposed to be standing on the top step, shielding me from the umpires and the other team.
Valentine didn’t realize cameras saw him do it, though, and ended up being fined $5,000 and suspended for two games – but the Mets won the game in question and both he missed, so all was well that ended well.
And, hey, as he runs for Mayor of Stamford, CT, this fall, Bobby can look back and show proof that he knows how to play the system! Celebrate the anniversary by reliving the entire scenario:
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