For decades, baseball managers have tried to find ways to add levity to their clubs. In a 162 game schedule, there will be times when stress is high and a manager is called upon to relieve the tension, or watch his team fall into the abyss of non-contention.
In early June 1999, the New York Mets were not performing the way upper management had hoped. They had lost eight straight games and were 27-28 on the season. The front office decided on its action. As Valentine told ESPN:
“Those were stressful times. Three of my coaches had just been fired a few days before, and at the press conference, I predicted that we’d go 40-15 in the next 55 games. I said if we didn’t do that, I would quit as the New York Mets’ manager.”
Quite a prediction for a team that seemed to lose its way. As part of the 55-game stretch Valentine alluded to was a home series against the Toronto Blue Jays. The game that ended up causing all the fireworks was on June 9, 1999, 21 years ago today.
It was tight throughout, with the game going into extra innings tied at 3-3. In the top of the 12th with Shannon Stewart on first and Craig Grebeck at the plate against Pat Mahomes. Stewart broke for second on a steal attempt, and Mike Piazza tried to throw him out. Home plate umpire Randy Marsh ruled that Piazza went too far in front of the plate to catch the ball, and the catcher’s interference call put Grebeck and Stewart on first and second. Valentine continued :
“Now, I have read the rulebook for all my life, but I had never seen nor heard that play being enforced in a game, so I came out to talk with Randy. I asked him if I could get thrown out for what I was thinking and he said no. Then I told him what I was thinking and he threw me out. Well, 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.”
But down there he went, donned in a fake mustache and glasses, Valentine reappeared in the dugout shortly there after.
To his credit, Mahomes worked out of the jam by inducing a foul popup from Jacob Brumfield and striking out Carlos Delgado. The game wore on and then the Mets third base camera picked up the ejected manager sitting in the dugout near the runway.
Valentine said later to the press, “Luckily, we won the game almost immediately, so there wasn’t a long time that I was there, when I came out on the field and slapped everyone five.” Yes, the Mets won the game and everybody seemed to be smiling, even the umpires as the Mets received their congratulations on the field.
However, National League president Leonard Coleman was not one of those who was smiling. Coleman offered to meet with Valentine prior to making his ruling on the disciplinary action, but Valentine declined saying he would reach out to him by telephone. Coleman suspended him for two games and fined him $5,000.
The Mets won the two games without Valentine.
Asked if he regretted his stunt, Valentine told reporters, Yes and no. “I regret it, it’s going to cost me a lot of money. I don’t regret the fact that it lightened the team.”
Perhaps it did add some levity, as the Mets swept the Jays and reversed their season seemingly from the point of Valentine’s infraction. In sum, the Mets finished the 1999 season with a 97-66 record and won the wild card in a tiebreaker playoff. It was the first post-season appearance for the Mets in 11 years.
And as far as his claim the Mets would go 40-15 in the next 55 game stretch, the Mets record for those games? 40-15
