On June 9th 1999, 21 years ago tomorrow as of when this was published, The New York Mets played a home game vs the Toronto Blue Jays, and in this game, one of the most memorable moments in team history would occur. In the 12th inning, Mike Piazza caught a pitch-out from pitcher Pat Mahomes and threw down to second base in an attempt to catch Shannon Stewart stealing. The low throw was mishandled by shortstop Rey Ordonez, allowing Stewart to slide in safely. A fielding slip up by Ordonez was a very rare occurrence in and of itself, but that isn't why this play is remembered so many years later. Home plate umpire Randy Marsh called interference on Piazza, claiming he caught the ball out in front of the plate. If he's right about Piazza's positioning (which is seems like he is from the replay), he is correct to make that call according to subsection B of the interference section of Rule 2.00 which states "defensive interference is an act by a fielder which hinders or prevents a batter from hitting a pitch". Piazza did in fact do so because by catching the ball in front of the plate he did not allow batter Craig Grebeck a chance to swing at the pitch. Grebeck was awarded first base, as per the rule. This is an uncommon play, but that's still is not the reason for this moment's significance.
Mets manager Bobby Valentine was not having any of that (probably correct) call, as he came right out of the dugout to argue. There were no crazy dirt kicking-hat throwing antics in the argument between Valentine and Marsh, which lasted less than a minute. Despite the seemingly routine nature of the discussion, Valentine was ejected anyway. Bobby V got tossed plenty of times in his career though, that also is not why the incident has become infamous.
Where this story gets truly interesting is in the Mets clubhouse, after the ejection. Pitcher Orel Hershiser, who wasn't throwing that day, and Third baseman Robin Ventura, who had been pulled for a pinch-runner in the 9th, were also in the clubhouse, and they seemed to think Valentine had better places to be. They told Valentine to get back in the dugout, and when he told them he couldn't, they gave him some sunglasses, a cap, and told him nobody would ever know. He resisted at first but soon agreed to the scheme. The look was completed with eyeblack stickers as a mustache, and Bobby V looked like a new man. It was Hershiser's job to stand in front of Valentine so none of the umpires or Blue Jays players could see him. Hershiser did his job and Valentine was not spotted by them during the game, but they didn't account for the TV cameras which ended up catching Valentine in the act. Even though the umpires (who saw Valentine congratulating his players on the field after the 14th inning walk-off) thought the disguise was funny, league officials didn't agree, suspending him for two games and fining him 5,000 dollars. A decade prior a minor league manager Mal Fitchman Disguised himself as the team mascot after being ejected, but a stunt such as this had never been seen at the Major League level before or since.
Even though his return was unique, being ejected definitely wasn't out of character for Bobby V. Valentine is tied for 27th all-time for most manager ejections. His total itself is noteworthy but his career, along with ejections in general, is better looked at through Ejection Percentage. Ejection Percentage is a basic stat that I created (because it SOMEHOW didn't exist already) which simply measures the percentage of a manager's games in which he was ejected. While Valentine ranks nowhere near the ejection kings, such as Bill Dahlen (5.5%), or Bobby Cox (3.5%), his 1.8% still ranks ahead of notorious hotheads Lou Piniella (1.7%), Tommy Lasorda (1.4%) and Sparky Anderson (1.1%). Valentine also led the league in ejections twice in his managerial career, but neither was during his tenure in New York.
Bobby Valentine came to manage the Mets in 1996, but that wasn't his first time in a Mets uniform. He had previously worn the blue and orange as a player, starting in 1977 (when the Mets acquired him in exchange for Dave Kingman). He would play in Queens for two years, until being released before the 1979 season. His Mets career as a player was unimpressive (-.1 WAR), just like most of the rest of his playing career, but it's important not to forget that he easily could have been a great player, and that he was one of the biggest prospects of the early 70s.
Bobby V started his professional career in 1968, winning the Pioneer League MVP as a rookie. That year he was playing for the Ogden Dodgers, managed by Tommy Lasorda, but the next year at the age of 19 he'd have his first cup of tea with the major league Dodgers, appearing in 5 games as a pinch-runner. In 1970 he was Pacific Coast League MVP, then in 1971 he finally got his first real chance in the major leagues. He struggled for his first couple years as rookies often will, but early into the 1973 season, he looked to have finally turned the corner. More than a month into the season he was batting over .300, but on May 17th he suffered one of the most gruesome injuries in baseball history. While attempting to rob a home run his leg got caught in the fence, causing multiple compound fractures. No video or pictures of this injury are available today but the Hardball Times went far enough to describe it as "The closest baseball got to a Joe Theisman-Lawrence Taylor Moment". Valentine lost the rest of the 1973 season, and would never be the same player.
Perhaps his biggest lifetime accomplishment though came in the time between his playing career, and managerial career. In 1980 he was in the kitchen of his own restaurant in Stamford CT, crafting a club sandwich when the toaster broke. Valentine was perplexed and didn't know what to do, so he just decided to throw all of the ingredients into a tortilla. He called this creation the "Club Mex", but the name that stuck was the "wrap". This is believed to be the first time a wrap sandwich was ever made, and therefor Bobby Valentine is widely considered the proprietor of the sandwich wrap. Whether you were a fan of Bobby V on the field or not, this is a delicious innovation we can all thank him for.
It's easy to get caught up in the Lore of Bobby Valentine. It's easy to let the sandwich discoveries, the snapped leg, and the disguise antics distract you from what he actually accomplished at the helm of the Mets, but that wouldn't be fair to him, as he was by any metric, one of the best Managers the Mets ever had. Valentine is one of only five Mets managers to win a National League Pennant, he is tied for first for most seasons as Mets manager (7), and he's in third for highest Mets winning percentage (.534). In 1997, Valentine's second year (first full year), The Mets had their first season over .500 since 1990, and just a few years later he would guide them to their first playoff appearance in 10 seasons. He clearly made the Mets better, and when he left they were worse. Since his firing in 2002, the Mets winning percentage has been .492, meaning they averaged almost 7 more wins per season with Valentine than without him.
Even though he has many detractors, and some of them raise some solid points, Bobby Valentine has undeniably been involved in some of the most memorable stories in baseball history, and will forever be a figure worth talking about. He is the only MLB manager to wear a disguise, He is the only player or coach I know of to revolutionize the sandwich industry, and he was on the receiving end of one of the worst injuries the sport has ever seen. Aside from his antics and stories, he was also a successful manager, 47th all-time for wins, and he could have been a high-quality player. Finally, he is one of only four men to manage and play for the Mets for multiple years each, his only contemporaries being Bud Harrelson, Gil Hodges, and player-manager Joe Torre.
In closing, I would like to officially wish everybody a merry disguise-day eve. Celebrate it with the Mets fans in your family, and feast on the traditional food of this holy day, the sandwich wrap.
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