Former New Jersey Devils GM and current Islanders executive Lou Lamoriello coached Bobby Valentine in the Cape Cod Baseball League.
At this point, nothing should surprise hockey fans about Lou Lamoriello’s beyond interesting past and his career prior to being an NHL general manager.
I stand corrected – a three-time Stanley Cup champion general manager with the New Jersey Devils and Hockey Hall of Fame inductee. Lamoriello is currently the general manager of the New York Islanders.
While former Devil Scott Gomez recently spoke of hysterical and awesome Lamoriello stories, Bobby Valentine apparently has a strong tie to the legendry hockey mind.
Yes, the same Bobby Valentine who used to manage the New York Mets – the one who was thrown out of a game and tried to return with a disguise entailing fake glasses and a rubber nose with an absurd mustache.
If anyone was wondering after reading NYT story about my connection with hockey great Lou Lamoriello. This is Lou coaching baseball. Cape Cod league 1967. I was a jr in HS pic.twitter.com/87s475WEdI
— Bobby Valentine (@BobbyValentine) March 31, 2020
The two notable faces for their respective sports met back in the 1960s when Valentine was playing in Cape Cod Baseball League. It just so happens that Lamoriello was Valentine’s coach, while the future MLB player was a junior in High School.
Unbelievable…
The rare videos that Valentine shared are indescribable, no?
— Bobby Valentine (@BobbyValentine) March 31, 2020
How does he still have the videos are one incredible aspect but the bigger fascination is that Lamoriello was a coach in the historic baseball league.
After tweeting out the epic throwbacks, Valentine just so happened to be a guest caller on WFAN’s Joe and Evan segment.
Valentine then explained how Lamoriello also helped him get drafted into the MLB when the eventual hockey GM offered for Valentine to live at his place so that he could pursue a career in baseball and meet scouts—instead of heading back to his parents.
The full audio can be heard here from Valentine’s segment on WFAN and the trio wasted no time diving into his shocking relationship with Lamoriello.
