Happy Valentine’s Day
Posted by Andy on February 14, 2011
There are a surprising number of major leaguers with the name Valentine.
| Val Picinich | 1916-1933, minors | |
| Valentine John Picinich | ||
| Val Robinson | 1872, minors | |
| Alfred Valentine Robinson | ||
| Joe Stripp | 1928-1938, minors | |
| Joseph Valentine Stripp Jersey Joe | ||
| Bob Valentine | 1876, minors | |
| Robert Valentine | ||
| Bobby Valentine | 1969-1979, minors Mgr | |
| Robert John Valentine | ||
| Corky Valentine | 1954-1955, minors | |
| Harold Lewis Valentine | ||
| Ellis Valentine | 1975-1985, minors | |
| Ellis Clarence Valentine | ||
| Fred Valentine | 1959-1968, minors | |
| Fred Lee Valentine Squeaky | ||
| Joe Valentine | 2003-2005, minors | |
| Joseph John Valentine | ||
| John Valentine | 1883, minors | |
| John Gill Valentine | ||
| Vito Valentinetti | 1954-1959, minors | |
| Vito John Valentinetti | ||
| Julie Wera | 1927-1929, minors | |
| Julian Valentine Wera | ||
And this doesn't even include players with the name Valentin, such as Javier, John, and Jose.
In looking at Jose Valentin's stats I was reminded of how overrated he was. He had some high HR totals but didn't drive in a lot of runs. In fact, he's among the all-time leaders in most seasons with 25 HR but an OPS+ below 120.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Looking through the players born on Valentine's day in MLB history, its a fairly unimpressive group. I believe that of the 49 major leaguers total, only 4 all-star game appearances were made. Dave Dravecky was the only guy who stood out to me. Also I think only one player had over 1000 hits and only one pitcher had over 100 wins. I wonder what the worst day for births is in MLB history? Would be an interesting blog idea.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
I noticed that Gino Cimoli and Cliff Dapper were listed as having died.
Both of them had one of their numbers retired. Cimoli once played for Baltimore, and wore number 20. Later on that was Frank Robinson's number when he was with the Orioles.
Dapper is famous for having been traded for Ernie Harwell. He was the only player to be traded for an announcer. Both Cliff andErnie lived to be 90. When I was growing up in Southern California, I used to hear the Hollywood Stars ballgames. Cliff was one of their catchers for a while.
His major league average was .471 for the one season he played for the Dodgers. He had eight hits in 17 at bats. I wonder if they would have let him play a full season, would he have had 240 hits with 510 at bats? That would have been a record nobody would have broken.
Even with 17 at bats he still had his number retired because it was 19, the number Jim Gilliam wore with distinction.
Another recent death was Tony Molinosky at 101. He also played for the Dodgers. His number was 4, the same number Duke Snider wore for so many years.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Concerning Andy's question about whether the worst day for Birthdays was Valentine's Day I don't know. I believe I have seen worse days, but I don't have the type of photographic memory to recall every player's birthday. Maybe February 29 would rival Valentine's Day, although I know Pepper Martin and Al Rosen were born that day.
There were several players who died on February 14. The one who sticks out more in my mind is Mordecai Brown, the Hall of Famer. He would have to be the best player to have been born or died on this day.
February 14th, 2011 at 9:01 pm
Seeing Bobby Valentine's name always remind of how great a prospect he was. He was the league-MVP at age 20 as a SS on a AAA team loaded with future MLB regulars and stars:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/team.cgi?id=33321
Injuries steered his career more towards utility player and manager but he could have been a huge star.
February 14th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Regarding Jose Valentine, he had the third highest career HR (249) for a player with OPS+ below 100, behind Gary Gaetti (360) and Vinny Castilla (320). Jason Varitek is the highest active player, sitting 11th with 182 HR -- he could move up the list some as long as his OPS+, now 99, remains below 100.
February 15th, 2011 at 2:45 am
I don't know a soul who ever rated Jose Valentin as anything but a crappy player.
February 15th, 2011 at 7:10 am
I may have a winner on what might be the worst birthday in Major League history. My nephew was just born on January 26th, so I checked here to see if any great players shared the date. Zilch. So far I have not been able to find a single All-Star appearance for any player born on that day.
Pitchers born on January 26th combined to win only 239 games... and the hitters appear to be worse! Other days surrounding January 26 are pretty bad too! But at least on those days you will see a sprinkling of players you will recognize. I still think the 26th is an early candidate for the worst.
The most famous player that shares January 26th is one that I think seals my case: Bob Uecker
February 15th, 2011 at 9:11 am
@7
Not so in hockey. The Great One was born 1/26/61.
February 15th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@2 RE: Gino Cimoli,
The first time I heard of him was about 15 years ago when I was watching an old Jerry Lewis movie "The Geisha Boy ". For no real reason, Jerry Lewis' charachter goes to an LA Dodger game and they show the whole starting lineup (This was Hollywood's way of welcoming the Dodgers to LA, I guess). Anyway Jerry is rattling off all of the big names of the ex-Brooklyn Dodgers (Snider, Erskine, Hodges, Reese, etc.) and then he gets to Left Field and introduces Gino Cimoli. I had never heard of him before that and had to look him up and he indeed was the starting left fielder for the Dodgers in 1958. I thought about the movie every time I heard his name or saw one of his baseball cards ever since. RIP Gino.
February 15th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I wonder if they would have let him play a full season, would he have had 240 hits with 510 at bats?
Probably.
February 15th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
I knew that John Valentin's 1995 season was pretty good, but 8.5 wins above replacement!? WOW! That's gotta be one of the most underrated seasons ever - not only did he only finish 9th in the MVP voting, but he failed to make the All-Star team.
Has anyone else ever recorded a higher WAR, but failed to make the All-Star team, or finished so low in the MVP voting?
February 15th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
Jose Valentin did have a poor OBP, but some of those knocking him may be forgetting that he was a shortstop, and a solid fielder.
Of course, we Mets fans will always have a soft spot for Jose after the terrific year he had for us at age 35, contributing mightily to our near-pennant in 2006. Signed off the scrap heap and slotted as a backup middle infielder, Valentin took over the regular 2B job after Kaz Matsui was cashiered, and produced a .271 BA / .490 SLG in over 400 PAs, while playing very well at 2B (1.4 dWAR, 6 errors in 94 games) and providing (cliche alert) veteran leadership.
I never thought Jose Valentin was overrated before he came to the Mets, because I never heard much good about him, in spite of all the HRs. He sure filled a need for the Mets, though -- and 2B has been a sore spot since he left.
February 15th, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Andrew @11 -- John Valentin surely did have an outstanding year in 1995. But unless I badly misunderstand how WAR is figured, his high WAR rating is at least partly due to a crappy year for AL shortstops. With A-Rod, Jeter and Nomar still a year from impact, and Ripken on the decline, the next-best OPS+ by an AL SS in 1995 was 108 by Gary DiSarcina (a total fluke year for him). Luis Sojo's 94 was 3rd. Half the regular AL shortstops posted OPS+ below 80.
But, you may be right that Valentin's 8.5 WAR / non-All-Star season was unique. I don't have time to check all players, but I checked all middle infielders from 1933-present with a WAR of 8 or more, and I'm pretty sure they all were All-Stars except for Valentin (and Snuffy Stirnweiss in 1945, when there was no A-S game).
February 15th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Followup to my comment @13:
After a spot-check of comparable seasons by middle infielders, I'm less inclined to think that John Valentin's 8.5 WAR in 1995 was "inflated" by the poor hitting of his AL counterparts.
It's true that Valentin's 138 OPS+ ranks just 20th out of 28 middle infielders since 1901 with a WAR between 8.0 and 9.0. However, most of those who had a higher OPS+ were credited with substantially more offensive WAR than Valentin's 6.3.
And after reflection, I realize that the generally weak hitting of AL shortstops in '95 was more the rule than the exception.
February 15th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
And finally, I should add that John Valentin's 23 WAR fielding runs in 1995 is ranked 29th in modern MLB history by a SS.
So, yeah, I should have just kept my mouth shut....
February 16th, 2011 at 9:18 am
Fred Valentine is one of three players whom B-R shows with the nickname "Squeaky." The other two players are both obscure relatives of more famous players: Bruce Barmes (uncle of Clint) and Otto Bluege (brother of Ossie).