Frank The Tank | Frank Walks
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00:00Well, you know, it is my pleasure to be joined by a Mets legend.
00:06You know, I personally think that next to Gil Hodges,
00:10this is the best manager the Mets ever had.
00:13I'm talking about Bobby Valentine,
00:15who did more with Les from 1997 to 2002,
00:20leading them to consecutive playoff appearances and the 2000 World Series.
00:24Let's go for a walk with Bobby Valentine.
00:28And this walk is powered by body armor.
00:40The history of your legs.
00:41I mean, in 73, right here, you broke your leg on the wall.
00:45Wow, right there I did. I ran into the wall.
00:48It's still crooked, right? Look at it. Yeah.
00:51And I didn't catch the ball.
00:54Yeah, I need to get it. I got a contract for next year, so I guess that's it.
00:58So you ended the 1960s with the Mets.
01:01And in 97, you started here.
01:03In 97, this year's Mets team is kind of reminding me of that 97 team.
01:08Interesting.
01:10That they both got off to bad starts, turned it around.
01:14Back then, there was only one wild card.
01:16But this year, there's three, of course.
01:18And they've got themselves right in the thick of the race.
01:21And the first year manager, or first full year manager in your case,
01:26and they had like a spirit that they overachieved.
01:30And I felt that that was a hallmark of your Mets teams,
01:33is that they always overachieved outperform what you would expect.
01:38I mean, Benny Agliani, Matt Franco, these guys.
01:42Well, maybe they were undervalued.
01:44And they played up to what their value really was,
01:49because I thought they were spectacular.
01:51On a team, Benny Agliani, Matt Franco, Desi Rellenberg, the game leader, all those guys.
01:57So you never really excite people, but you always felt that you got the best out of them.
02:00Well, they played well.
02:02Of course, that playoffs was crazy.
02:04You had to win those three games against Pittsburgh.
02:08You had three games, three cities, three days.
02:12You beat Pittsburgh, voted Cincinnati.
02:16Al Leiter.
02:30Al Leiter, who just had one of the greatest games in Mets history that day.
02:36And Gardner-Alfonso, a couple of big hits.
02:39And then the next day you faced Randy Johnson.
02:42And, you know, I got to say this.
02:45You know, there's a lot of times where, like, the no-name hits just come out there,
02:48and you just go, you know, you've got to decide.
02:50This guy's got no-name hits, he's going to shut them down.
02:52But for some reason, the Mets ate Randy Johnson alive.
02:57Super Joe, right?
02:58Yeah, Super Joe.
02:59Super Joe, good night.
03:01Yeah, Todd Graff was going to swing it every once in a while in there.
03:05And Fox, yeah, Randy didn't have a great time.
03:08No, the Mets always gave him fits.
03:12I remember when he took the Yankees.
03:13I remember when he met the Yankee game in 2006,
03:16and the Mets just tore him apart that day.
03:20Yeah, he never really cared for me.
03:22He was an SC guy.
03:23I went to the SC.
03:24All that nonsense.
03:25You know, Frank, when I got to manage the All-Star game,
03:29you were going to put $2,000 on it.
03:31That was like 2000, 2001.
03:33I had a choice between Randy Johnson and Curt Chilling to start the All-Star game.
03:40I called their manager, Bob Lindley, in Arizona.
03:44I said, listen, they're both having great first halves.
03:47One of them has to start.
03:48One of them's not.
03:49I mean, they should start.
03:50He said, Curt Chilling.
03:52So I announced Curt Chilling, and Randy took a personal offense.
03:55So we were going back to Seattle where we had started.
03:58You know, he was having a better year.
04:00He didn't particularly like Curt.
04:02And I announced the other guy to be the starting pitcher.
04:06But you know what happens?
04:07We get to Seattle.
04:09Curt does a little warm-up the day before the game and then cuts the CB
04:13and says, I can't go tomorrow.
04:15So instead of Curt Chilling, we had to go out on Randy Johnson to start like this.
04:21We could start the game.
04:24And he said, yeah, but we're giving three innings.
04:27And that's the game that Cal Ripken winds up hitting his last home run,
04:32his last game played in All-Star.
04:34Now, I remember that game.
04:37You had permission for Tommy Lasorda to be their base coach.
04:40Yeah.
04:42Yeah, Tommy and I were together in minor leagues.
04:44And so now in managing All-Star,
04:47he has a special case exception with Tommy Unicorn.
04:52He'd seen Unicorn.
04:53He begs me to go out with Coach Thurden.
04:55You've seen the highlights.
04:56But all of a sudden, Black Guerrero swings at this slider.
04:59I think baseball should do that more often.
05:02Yeah, bring them back.
05:03Bring back legendary people.
05:05I mean, it's awesome.
05:07We don't need to see an active manager on Durham-based commercial base line.
05:11Let's bring some legends.
05:13Like next year, it's going to be in Atlanta.
05:15So put Chipper Jones at the Durham-based coaching box.
05:18I think that would be a nice reunion.
05:21And, of course, $2 will go to the World Series.
05:23I think it's great.
05:24That's what we're all about.
05:28Good.
05:29Sure.
05:30And the World Series reports that year.
05:35Yeah, the playoffs in the World Series were amazing.
05:39You know, Johnny Frank was breaking up.
05:41Oh, that was…
05:42Barry Bonds and Mason Lovett, you know.
05:44That was one of the great moments.
05:46Yeah, it was a great moment.
05:47And can I tell you, after that game,
05:49and the Giants panel in there,
05:52and they put more games than us,
05:54and a bunch of paper, five shots, and all that stuff.
05:56Barry Bonds, dressed in his suit, came into my office to congratulate me.
06:01Oh, that's nice.
06:02Huh?
06:03He gives a lot of…
06:04Barry Bonds.
06:05He gives a lot of slack.
06:06Bad dress.
06:07And it's only bad dress.
06:08Barry Bonds, the greatest hitter of his time.
06:11I mean, all this…
06:13All this stuff that we've…
06:15I mean, just…
06:17I personally think, basically, baseball is the play that never happens.
06:21Of course.
06:22Not the players.
06:23Of course.
06:24Not the…
06:25And any player that used steroids…
06:27Okay, we're going to recognize it as a steroid error.
06:30We recognize the dead ball error.
06:32Everyone who has all three numbers, all three credentials,
06:35should be in the Hall of Fame.
06:37That includes McGuire, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, everyone.
06:42Roger Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod, you name it.
06:45Well, it's interesting that it's the place that houses the records of our game,
06:51and the greatest players of our game,
06:53and the greatest pitcher in my era.
06:56And before, it's Roger Clemens, seven, signed up.
07:00And the greatest hitter is Barry Bonds.
07:02And he could have had five or six MVPs among all three.
07:07It was without a doubt the best hitter of his generation and others.
07:12And Rod Clemens.
07:13I hate that guy.
07:14I hate him.
07:15He's a person.
07:16Personal feelings aside, he was so damn good.
07:20Yes, he was.
07:21But the whole thing with Piazza just always struck me.
07:26Yeah.
07:28I read a book about him.
07:31Valentine's Play, plug it.
07:33Thanks, Rick.
07:35What about it?
07:36But I was thinking about how you just like, and you always did get along with Steve Collins.
07:42That was what we said.
07:43Well, actually, at the beginning, we were two peas in a pod.
07:48We came up basically together.
07:50I came to the big leagues from the minor league system,
07:53and he was the minor league director.
07:55So we worked hand-in-hand in the minor leagues.
07:58So Colin Joe back there took place,
08:01and Steve became the general manager,
08:04and we were together.
08:06And I remember that era was the beginning of this new era,
08:13the new era of analytics,
08:16this new era of the general manager holding the trump card.
08:21It's not the manager anymore.
08:23And Steve and Billy D.
08:25I'm from the minor leagues.
08:28We're in the minor leagues together.
08:30Right?
08:31So they knew each other.
08:32They were peers.
08:33And now Billy's got a book script about him.
08:35And everyone's giving him all the credit for his team.
08:40And Steve was my in-manager.
08:42In-manager.
08:44How do you compare Steve and Steve?
08:47I mean, I thought, like I said,
08:49I always thought you were one of the best managers I've ever had,
08:51except you may not know about this.
08:53In 1978, you were the best.
08:5678.
08:57Yeah.
08:58Yeah.
08:59You won a contest.
09:01Wow.
09:02The largest bubble.
09:04Wow.
09:05By a baseball player.
09:06By Tops.
09:07Yeah.
09:08And you know what happened?
09:10They had this major mistake.
09:12I had to blow the bubble into it to get it bigger.
09:15And then I made a big blow, and the bubble got bigger,
09:18and it didn't stick and it broke.
09:19I could have blown it bigger.
09:21I like it.
09:23But it was a tough competition against Rusty Styles,
09:26I remember.
09:27You know, this has been a fun time,
09:29welcoming you, talking to you.
09:31This is it.
09:32That's it.
09:33Is there any charities you want to promote?
09:35Well, you know, the Nickelodeon Fund that I started in Stanford,
09:39Connecticut with a bunch of my friends in 1999,
09:43which gives scholarships to high school students
09:47in all the high school areas.
09:50We've given over $1,500,000 for the scholarships since 1999.
09:55This is the 25th anniversary.
09:57We're having a big shindig on October 17th,
10:00and everyone's invited to Stanford, Connecticut.
10:03Well, if you're committed to Stanford,
10:05join Bobby V for a good cause.
10:08Nickelodeon Fund.
10:09Nickelodeon Fund.
10:10Nickelodeon.org.
10:13And I don't know if I'm going to put this on video,
10:15because I don't know if I want to talk a little bit more.
10:17Steve Traxler.
10:19Yeah, still a friend.
10:21It might be a great time.
10:22Remember how slow he was?
10:24That's what I want to talk about.
10:27I want to bang my head.
10:30Mountain of my beliefs.
10:32He came out almost two and a half minutes.
10:34Look at this, Steve, my guy.
10:37You calling him right tonight?
10:40I'm kidding.
10:41You had a good night last night.
10:43I like it.
10:45I'll come down and see you.
10:46Thanks, though.
10:48See you, Bobby.
10:49See you, Tony.
10:51You know who that is?
10:52Yeah, the umpire.
10:53And what that group is right there?
10:56These are the four Italian umpires.
10:58The first I know.
11:00The first four Italian umpires.
11:03What about Phil Pozzi?
11:05I haven't seen him.
11:06That's Phil in London City.
11:08I actually did ask Phil in Randazzo.
11:10Phil was actually from my town.
11:12I'm not kidding.
11:13I live in Belleville.
11:14I live in Belleville, New Jersey.
11:15Oh, I've been there for a year.
11:17Yeah, the ALS walk with Unico.
11:19I did that last year.
11:20I did the Unico walk last year.
11:22I grew up in Bloomfield, but I now live in Belleville.
11:25And Bloomfield, Belleville, and Nutley are all interconnected.
11:29And yeah, Steve Traxler.
11:31The way he just slowed down.
11:32I remember going to a game.
11:35You weren't there, actually.
11:36You were not there when this happened.
11:37This was a year later.
11:382003?
11:39Yeah.
11:40And it was like a hot and humid day against the Dodgers.
11:42Yeah.
11:43And it was like the crowd was starting to say,
11:45throw the ball.
11:46Throw the ball.
11:48And Ray might be a great guy, but he drove me nuts.
11:51He got faster.
11:53Even when he was good, though, he just drove me nuts.
11:57Yeah, his stuff wasn't 100 miles an hour,
12:00but I think he was a great guy.
12:01Well, the pitch clock.
12:02The pitch clock.
12:04He's one of the reasons they invented the pitch clock.
12:06Well, maybe.
12:08But thank you for joining me.
12:09This has been fun.
12:10Good to see you, bro.
12:11It's been great, and like I said,
12:13I personally do believe that you are the second-best manager in Mets history.
12:19Gil Hodges, that's a...
12:22Top five's good for me.
12:23It's okay.
12:24I'm just running the race.
12:25It's Gil Hodges.
12:27He's safe.
12:28He was fun to play against.
12:30Gil Hodges, to me, is safe.
12:32Right?
12:33He's safe.
12:34Yeah.
12:36Okay, thanks, bro.
12:37Thanks again.
12:38Good luck.
12:39You and your show.