One was the first manager to guide the Mets to consecutive playoff berths and a heartfelt leader of the club’s efforts to help New York heal in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The other was a 1970s heartthrob, the burgeoning star who was the best thing – the only thing, maybe – about a Mets club that endured the self-inflicted “Midnight Massacre,” the painful nickname for the short-sighted 1977 day that saw the incomparable Tom Seaver, as well as slugger Dave Kingman, traded.
Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli, who roomed together early in their Mets’ tenures, were inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame together in ceremonies Saturday afternoon that neatly covered separate eras in club history, a nifty day.
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It also served as a reminder of how fascinating Met history is, even if it only dates back to 1962. It’s vital that the club continues its recent efforts to recognize it. Stories like Valentine’s and Mazzilli’s are franchise fabric and they’re worth celebrating like this.
It was fun to relive both of their careers on Saturday, whether it was Valentine’s fake-mustache-and-sunglasses disguise or Mazzilli’s “audacity to do basket catches four years after Willie Mays” had been a Met, as Valentine recalled. It’s OK – Mays was Maz’s hero.
There were, of course, moments that were poignant. Or hilarious. Mazzilli doted over his granddaughter, Sophia, nearly two years old, who walked onto the infield grass as he delivered his speech. He said he can’t wait to show her his plaque in the rotunda at Citi Field and hear her say, “That’s you, Grandpa.”
“Me, a grandpa,” Mazzilli said in a pre-ceremony press conference.
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“Greatest gift in the world.”
Both men chuckled over an ad they once did, in full uniform, with Ed Kranepool and Joe Torre for Gillette Foamy. It greeted fans in the subway. “It was really cool,” Valentine said.
Both also were happy to go in together. It’s clear they share a deep bond and get a kick out of each other. When Mets manager Carlos Mendoza began his press conference – Valentine and Mazzilli were both in the room – by extolling the virtues of both, Valentine marched up to the table where Mendoza sat.
Once Mendoza was finished, Valentine said to the assembled crowd, “Wow, huh? No teleprompter.”
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Then Valentine seemed to realize he probably shouldn’t be where he was. He asked aloud, “Am I supposed to be here?”
“No, you’re not,” Mazzilli hollered from the back, to laughs. “He did this when we roomed together,” Mazzilli added.
They have been friends since their roomie days in the 1970s when they “never sat in the room at nighttime,” Valentine revealed.
It would be hard to imagine Mazzilli, now 71, as a homebody, considering his outsize impact on the Mets of the late 70s and early 80s. He was a handsome first-round pick from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, who had played in the Gil Hodges Little League and chose baseball over speed skating, another sport in which he was a world-class talent.
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Mazzilli was offered $30,000 to sign and ultimately got $50,000 after two months of haggling and began working his way through the Mets system. He debuted at 21 in September of 1976.
After Seaver and Kingman were dealt, “he was going to be the only thing people would come to the stadium for,” Valentine said. “The majority of fans were female, who just came to watch him run around the bases. The fans weren’t receptive to anyone but Lee because the others were replacements for Seaver and Kingman.”
For his part, Mazzilli noted that he learned some secrets of hitting by listening to Seaver and Jerry Koosman detail how they’d set up hitters. Mazzilli went on to become an All-Star in 1979, the year he batted .303 with 15 homers, 79 RBI and 34 steals.
In the MLB All-Star Game at the Kingdome in Seattle, Mazzilli became the first Mets player to hit a home run in the Midsummer Classic. His pinch-hit shot off Jim Kern in the eighth inning tied the score. In the ninth, Mazzilli drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk against Ron Guidry to force in the eventual winning run in the National League’s 7-6 victory.
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Did he have a claim on the MVP Award? Perhaps. But it went to Dave Parker, who threw out two runners from right field.
Those weren’t Mazzilli’s only highlights, either. During his second tenure with the Mets, starting in the magical season of 1986, he had several memorable hits. After a pinch-hit, he scored the tying run in the famous comeback in Game 6 of the World Series. In Game 7, he delivered a pinch-hit single that started the winning rally.
Sep 13, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Former New York Mets manager Bobby Valentine during the Mets Alumni Game at Citi Field. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Mazzilli even helped that ‘86 team when he was traded away before the 1982 season. The Mets sent him to the Texas Rangers for two pitchers. Ron Darling was one of them and the other, Walt Terrell, was later traded for Howard Johnson.
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Valentine, now 76, is a Connecticut native who played part of two seasons for the Mets in 1976-77. But he made his real mark as their manager. He ranks third in team history with 536 wins stemming from his time at the helm from 1996-2002. His teams made the MLB postseason in 1999 and again in 2000. The 2000 team won the NL pennant, the Mets’ first since ‘86, and lost a hotly-contested Subway Series to the Yankees.
Valentine even worked in the minors for the Mets when some of their 1980s stars were learning the game and moving through the system. Valentine, who left to manage the Rangers in 1985, felt “connected” to that ‘86 Met team, even as he ached for his former roommate at USC, a Red Sox first baseman named Bill Buckner.
After 9/11, Valentine was a tireless helper when Shea Stadium turned into a staging area for supplies earmarked for Ground Zero. His nearby restaurant fed First Responders and he and his players tried to offer solace where they could. He’s done plenty since, too.
Saturday, Valentine tried to deflect some of the credit he got for those efforts, asserting both during the press conference and his on-field speech that not nearly as much would have gotten done without the coordinating work done by Jay Horwitz, now the Mets’ director of alumni relations and then their media relations head.
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Valentine, like Mazzilli, wanted to be sure folks in his life got recognized for what they had meant to him. Family members of both ringed the podium where they delivered speeches.
Valentine’s shoutouts also included Lou Lamoriello, the Hall-of-Fame hockey executive, who coached him on a high-level team on Cape Cod, which got Valentine looks from big-time scouts. Lamoriello was on hand for the ceremonies, too, as well as former Mets such as Torre, Johnson, Edgardo Alfonzo, Mookie Wilson, John Franco, Al Leiter and Mike Piazza.
Mazzilli said he wouldn’t quite know how the day felt until he had taken it all in. While it was happening, though, it was clear that both men were enjoying it.
“It’s like coming back home,” said Mazzilli, the Brooklyn kid.
