"If it's as you say: a tie on all ends, then I'd cast my vote...for loyalty." -Edmund L. Shaff, as GE CEO Jack Welch, in that direct to video movie about Jay Leno and David Letterman that is aired on HBO 58 at 3:30 AM...you know the one, the one that had Treat Williams play Michael Ovitz.It's a line of thinking that this blogger wishes would be taken with, say, Cliff Floyd over Moises Alou...but the Mets cast a vote for loyalty when, instead of Adam Kennedy or Mark Loretta, they brought back Jose Valentin for 2007 on a one year contract.
To understand who Jose Valentin is, and how he got to where he got, it's important to understand where Jose has come from.
Jose was born October 12, 1969 in a small town in Puerto Rico. Even as an infant, he had an easy time sticking out.
Jose's baseball skills made him a popular lad growing up, but he most enjoyed the company given to him by a loving cat named Bigote.
Bigote was a constant source of comfort and inspiration as Jose made his way through the baseball ranks which took him to Milwaukee, Chicago, and Los Angeles, where he suffered a bad knee injury that ended his 2005 season and threatened to end his career. But this twist of cruel fate brought him to Flushing...where Valentin persevered with a bounce back year helping him to become a cult hero among the female sect.
But through it all, Valentin has remained as humble as ever, as he will continue his epic comeback story as the second baseman for the New York Mets, playing for his new inspiration: a young daughter...
4 comments:
So 'Stache shares our birthday?
Sweet!
Great baby photo with the stache.
Pretty damn funny. I just hope
the stache has a decent year in '07
and doesn't continue the late '06
slide. As for Cliff, Im not sure
the Mets have enough room for
another loyalty signing.
Due to the low number of candidates, Valentin was once again the unanimous choice for starting 2B on the '06 All-Stache Team.
Of the 5 games I went to in '06, I saw Valentin play well in every game and knowing that his career is at it's close, he played with heart, hit a few big homers, and didn't make any errors in those games. He was worth a lot more than the less than $1 mil he got this year. And, hey, for $4 mil he can take care of that moustache so much better. I'm all for his solid fielding and scrappy hitting. Now, don't go blaming him for the 7th game against the Cards... Speaking of Borat, I saw some Yankees in the background in that village. Wasn't that a Yankee arm being raised at the end of the film by the one-armed peasant?
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