Chiba Lotte Marines - Bobby Valentine, Tokyo Stadium (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: As Player As Manager Robert John Valentine (born May 13, 1950 in Stamford, Connecticut) is a former Major League Baseball player and manager. He is currently an analyst for ESPN. Valentine is considered to be among the best high school athletes in Connecticut history. He was widely recruited out of Rippowam High School in Stamford by the University of Nebraska, Duke University, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Southern California as a star in football and baseball. He attended USC where he became a member of the Delta Chi Fraternity. The Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him number five overall in the 1968 Major League Baseball Draft. After winning the Pioneer League's MVP award with the Ogden Dodgers in 1968, Valentine debuted with the Dodgers as a September call-up in 1969 at only 19 years old. Though he never recorded a major league at-bat that season, he did score three runs as a pinch runner. Back in the Pacific Coast League for 1970, Valentine was again his league's MVP after batting .340 with fourteen home runs for the Spokane Indians. Led by Valentine and manager Tommy Lasorda, Spokane won the league championship over a legendary Hawaii Islanders powerhouse. Valentine made the Dodgers out of Spring training in 1971, and batted .249 with one home run and 25 runs batted in. The following season, he managed to play in 119 games by playing many different positionsincluding shortstop, second base, third and all three outfield positions. His batting average improved to .274 in 1972, but he was not showing his early promise as a major leaguer, and following the season, he was packaged in a trade along with Frank Robinson, Billy Grabarkewitz, Bill Singer and Mike Strahler to the California Angels for Andy Messersmith and Ken McMu... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1105870