Story time with Bobby Valentine at the Queens Baseball Convention

Not long after baseball’s daily grind comes to a screeching halt in late October, our yearning for the return of summer comes back with a vengeance. For months, we have baseball everyday and then like that, it’s gone. We all know that baseball’s offseason is incredibly cruel to us diehards. So on Saturday, I was excited to be in attendance at this year’s Queens Baseball Convention, a gathering of hundreds of Mets fans, all of whom were suffering like me through the same sort of baseball withdrawal.

There were a number of great panels but the highlight of the afternoon was former Mets manager Bobby Valentine. Well known for his affability, Bobby V didn’t disappoint with his stories. He opened by dishing on one of his most fondly remembered moments, that time when after getting ejected from a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, he resurfaced on the Mets bench wearing a disguise.

The hat, sunglasses, and mustache he put on at the behest of Robin Ventura ultimately earned him a two game suspension and a fine from Major League Baseball, but they also forever earned him a place in Mets lore. Here’s part of that story (you can see the extended version on our Facebook page):

The other great story was about the day the Mets acquired Mike Piazza, particularly where Bobby was when Steve Phillips told him about the trade and how it went when he had to break the news to Todd Hundley. Here’s the clip (again, you can see an extended version on our Facebook page):