Valentine's Way by Bobby Valentine & Peter Golenbock

Author:Bobby Valentine & Peter Golenbock [Valentine, Bobby & Golenbock, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637580950
Publisher: Permuted Platinum
Published: 2021-09-08T04:23:27+00:00

Chapter 18

Fired

When I began the 1992 season with the Rangers, I really believed I was going to be the manager there forever. I really thought things were going to fall into place that year. At the halfway mark we were over .500. At one point we were six over. Twenty-year-old Pudge Rodriguez was the starting catcher. Rafael Palmeiro, Juan González, and Ruben Sierra were all ready to take off, and Kevin Brown, Charlie Hough, and Nolan Ryan were all pitching well. But it was being held together by a wing and a prayer.

In 1991 we finished 85–77, ten games behind the Minnesota Twins in the American League Central Division. Obviously, I was disappointed we hadn’t advanced further, and things were starting to get stressful. I never wanted to be the cause of the stress. I always wanted to be the one to relieve the stress of others, but over the years in Texas it wasn’t working out that way.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth universe, the writers were either for me or they were against me. Media coverage was expanding, and everyone was looking for an angle. ESPN was on the map. Sports radio was growing. All these outlets needed material, and all things Bobby V became a topic of conversation and often controversy.

It continued to really bother me that our scouting staff was trying to justify their picks by moving them up the ladder. I wasn’t always in agreement with their picks, and I really didn’t like the idea of not being part of the selection committee. In 1990 I was sitting in my office on the day of the draft, and T. R. Sullivan, a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, said, “What do you think of your number-one draft choice?”

“Well,” I said, “he looked pretty good to me.”

“When did you see him?” T. R. asked me.

“I saw him on television last night pitching for Stanford.”

“Oh really,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s not who you drafted.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said.

“He didn’t pitch on television,” T. R. said.

“Who was I watching?” I asked.

“You were probably watching Mike Mussina, the guy you wanted to take, but the Rangers took Dan Smith instead.”

Stanford and Creighton had played in the same College World Series. Mussina starred for Stanford, and Creighton had Daniel Smith, a left-handed pitcher who played baseball and hockey and who showed some real grit on the mound.

Our scouts—Doug Gastoway and Brian Lamb—decided that Mussina didn’t have the heart he needed, because he gave up four runs in the fifth inning of a series game. So instead of taking Mussina, the guy I was told we were going to take, we took Dan Smith.

That grated me, and I was embarrassed.

It didn’t take a private detective for them to learn I wasn’t a fan of our choice. A couple of times I said something to the wrong people in our organization. A couple of times I might have said something on the radio or to the newspapers.

I voiced my opinion.

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