Bobby Valentine Re-Joining ESPN

Former N.Y. Mets manager to contribute to ‘Baseball Tonight'

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/29/2009 10:53:59 AM

Former New York Mets and Texas Rangers manager Bobby Valentine is joining ESPN as a baseball analyst.

Valentine will contribute primarily to Baseball Tonight, starting during the League Championship Series and continuing through the World Series. He will assume a larger role in the broadcast during the 2010 season. In addition, he will contribute to ESPNNewYork.com, the cabler's local sports Website launching in 2010, as well as 1050 ESPN Radio in New York.

Valentine was a contributor to ESPN in 2003, before moving to Japan to manage the Chiba Lotte Marines from 2004-2009. Valentine led the Marines to a Japan Series victory in 2005, the first for that team since 1974.

Prior to that he managed the New York Mets from 1996-2002, leading them to the World Series in 2000, and he managed the Texas Rangers from 1985-1992.

"Bobby's global knowledge of the game and dynamic personality make him a great addition to our baseball franchise," said Norby Williamson, executive VP of production. "We're thrilled to welcome him back to ESPN."

Talkback

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i got a finskaroo that says espn launches another one (or two) properties prior to 2010. will it be the global localization known as espnnewyork?

it's really just a guess on my part but they managed to put boston together in just a few weeks with talent (bruschi) like they did here w/ valentine. their template approach makes the task even easier. twitter had more than a few people moaning that dallas got a local espn version before ny, so it stands to reason that espn might listen to their audience.

heck, it's only the beginning of october... their web developers have loads of time on their hands.

there's probably a little added incentive to push things as foxsports looks like they want in on something like this (see foxsportsdetroit). you should also beware the bunch of cities comcast sports has just registered; csn(add a major sports city here)dotcom. strange thing about comcast-- they registered names in cities they have no cable ops in (as far as i can tell)

steve - 9/29/2009 11:40:01 AM EDT

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