Comments on: About Bobby Valentine http://blog.ctnews.com/valentine Stamford native Bobby Valentine blogs about life and baseball from the Land of the Rising Sun Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:52:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jim Aulenti http://blog.ctnews.com/valentine/about/#comment-62 Jim Aulenti Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:57:31 +0000 http://blog.ctnews.com/valentine/?page_id=2#comment-62 HI Frank A.... well i got home this weekend and heard you called and The Vito was pretty happy. He looks like a 160 year old polar bear but was wearing a big smile. he said he bailed you and Bobby out of trouble plenty of times back at Rippowam and I can only imagine. then he made a pretty surprising comment: that he thought you were better than Bobby! Now, Frank, thats a pretty high compliment, and not many guys would know, but remember The Vito coached for 30 years and saw alot of baseball. so maybe he's in the 9th inning but this is part of a game that lasts forever. Frank, thanks for calling Dad, you made an old-timer real happy drop me an email an we'll arrange a beer at Bobby's. yankeeclipper05@yahoo.com Jim A HI Frank A….

well i got home this weekend and heard you called and The Vito was pretty happy. He looks like a 160 year old polar bear but was wearing a big smile. he said he bailed you and Bobby out of trouble plenty of times back at Rippowam and I can only imagine. then he made a pretty surprising comment: that he thought you were better than Bobby! Now, Frank, thats a pretty high compliment, and not many guys would know, but remember The Vito coached for 30 years and saw alot of baseball.

so maybe he’s in the 9th inning but this is part of a game that lasts forever.

Frank, thanks for calling Dad, you made an old-timer real happy

drop me an email an we’ll arrange a beer at Bobby’s.

yankeeclipper05@yahoo.com

Jim A

]]> By: Jim Aulenti http://blog.ctnews.com/valentine/about/#comment-48 Jim Aulenti Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:48:40 +0000 http://blog.ctnews.com/valentine/?page_id=2#comment-48 They say one man can't make a difference, but we were taught differently on the baseball fields in Stamford. Sharkey Laureno, Mickey Lione and all the great coaches taught that baseball is like life, every pitch like a brand new day and opportunity, every success short lived and every failure a failure of the team, not just the player. These lessons have stayed with me all my life, and I taught them when I coached too. I remember one incident clearly I want to tell everybody about. Back in 1968 racial tensions were very high and one night, the crowd was rockin' at a high school championship basketball game. We were raising the roof as the score went back and forth and with 5 seconds left the place was pulsing with excitement. Suddenly one of the players lost his cool and reached out and smacked an opponent, and that was it ! the crowd rushed onto the court and a melee broke out. Bobby Valentine walked right into the middle of the riot and helped break it up. I was 13 years old and I was there and I will never forget it. Bobby Valentine is true to the tradition we learned in Stamford where 'one man can make a real difference'. Bobby, if you read this, Vito is not doing too well. They say one man can’t make a difference, but we were taught differently on the baseball fields in Stamford. Sharkey Laureno, Mickey Lione and all the great coaches taught that baseball is like life, every pitch like a brand new day and opportunity, every success short lived and every failure a failure of the team, not just the player. These lessons have stayed with me all my life, and I taught them when I coached too.

I remember one incident clearly I want to tell everybody about. Back in 1968 racial tensions were very high and one night, the crowd was rockin’ at a high school championship basketball game. We were raising the roof as the score went back and forth and with 5 seconds left the place was pulsing with excitement. Suddenly one of the players lost his cool and reached out and smacked an opponent, and that was it ! the crowd rushed onto the court and a melee broke out.

Bobby Valentine walked right into the middle of the riot and helped break it up. I was 13 years old and I was there and I will never forget it. Bobby Valentine is true to the tradition we learned in Stamford where ‘one man can make a real difference’.

Bobby, if you read this, Vito is not doing too well.

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