Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine is making his long-rumored political debut: running as an independent to unseat the Democratic mayor of Stamford, Conn.
Valentine is a Stamford native and currently the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, about 20 miles away in Fairfield, Conn.
In 2017, there were rumblings that Donald Trump was considering Valentine as his ambassador to Japan. Valentine actually has experience in local Stamford government: Between his stints as the manager of Mets and Red Sox, he was the city’s director of health and public safety.
He also has owned a sports bar in Stamford for decades, where he claims to have invented the wrap.
The 70-year-old Valentine, who managed the Mets from 1996 to 2002, announced his candidacy in a homespun video featuring various local luminaries.
In an interview with the Stamford Advocate, Valentine said he was formerly a Republican but was running as a centrist.
“I don’t want to have any letter on my forehead,” Valentine said. “I don’t like the division that those letters have created in the country and in our community, and I don’t want to be judged by a name, by a party, because this election and all, I would think, hometown and local elections are not about policy. It’s about people and it’s about needs of people, and to confuse what you’re trying to do with what policy is of a party … I don’t have the time for that.”
There are at least two known Democratic politicians in the 2021 race. Incumbent David Martin has won the last two elections, and state representative Caroline Simmons is running.
As a MLB manager, Valentine won a pennant with the Mets and had one disastrous season with the Red Sox. In between, he won a Japan Series title with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
