Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine went to the disguise in the dugout at Shea Stadium 20 years ago Sunday.
Twenty years ago Sunday, Bobby Valentine morphed into a New York legend.
The season prior to the New York Mets NL-winning pennant season of 2000, Valentine found himself ejected in extra innings in a game against the Montreal Expos after arguing a catcher interference call.
Naturally, Valentine asked the home-plate umpire to throw him out for what he was thinking. It didn’t happen, so the Mets energetic skipper decided to let loose.
Back in the clubhouse, Robin Ventura and Orel Hershiser convinced Valentine to pull off the incognito look that’ll live on in New York baseball history forever.
20 years ago today, Bobby Valentine broke out a brilliant disguise after being ejected from a game ?
Here's how the idea came together: pic.twitter.com/H9YB3qxPiu
— ESPN (@espn) June 9, 2019
The Mets eventually won the game, and with Valentine on the field in congratulatory form after the victory, humor was the emotion of the moment.
Once the laughter died, however, the Mets manager was fined $5,000 and hit with a two-game suspension which he promptly served without incident.
Bobby Valentine would go until to manage the Mets through the 2002 season (including an NL pennant in 2000), but nobody will ever forget the night he pulled off one of the funniest moves in big-league history.
