Farmington Baseball Booster Club to Feature Bobby Valentine at Hot Stove Dinner

The Farmington High School Baseball Booster Club is hosting a “Hot Stove Dinner” on Thursday March 28, featuring former Red Sox, Mets and Rangers manager, and newly appointed Sacred Heart University athletic director Bobby Valentine as the featured speaker.  The dinner, which will take place at the Aqua Turf club in Plantsville,  Connecticut, will feature a full dinner, silent auction, and an after dinner speech by Valentine.  Proceeds from the event will support the Farmington High School baseball booster club. 

Valentine, whose most recent managerial stint comprised a tumultuous one year stint with the Red Sox last season, is a legendary Connecticut sports figure whose scholastic athletic exploits as a earned him all state honors in both football and baseball while attending Rippowam High School in Stamford.  Valentine.  He attended the University of Southern California and was the fifth pick in the 1968 Major League Baseball draft when he was chosen by the Los Angeles Dodgers.   Valentine played for the Dodgers and the California Angels, embarking on a promising career before he severely injured his knee in 1973.  Following his injury, Valentine played with the Angels and San Diego Padres before finishing his career at 29 years of age in 1979. 

Valentine’s managerial career comprised of tenures with the Texas Rangers, New York Mets, the Red Sox, and two tours with the Chibs Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific League.  He led the Mets to two wild card berths, as well as an appearance the 2000 World Series, where the Mets fell to the Yankees in five games.  In November 2011, the Red Sox named him manager for the 2012 season, during which he led the Sox to a 69-93 record. 

 Valentine has also been a baseball analyst and studio commentator for ESPN, where he worked in 2003 as a studio analyst and in 2009-10 as a game broadcaster and commentator for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.  On February 26, 2013, Fairfield’s Sacred Heart University named Valentine the executive director for intercollegiate athletics. 

“We are thrilled to have someone with Bobby’s baseball pedigree and expertise to be our speaker,” noted Booster Club president Paul Nanos.  “Bobby is a tremendous speaker, and is known for sharing humorous and vivid anecdotes from his playing and managerial career.  We are looking forward to a wonderful and entertaining evening.”  

Tickets to the event, which begins at 6:00 p.m. on March 28, are $45 per person, and may be ordered in advance by contacting Nanos at PaulNanos@comcast.net. 

Submitted by Farmington High School Baseball Booster Club.