During his years as manager—first with the Texas Rangers and then with the Mets—Bobby Valentine gained a well-earned reputation for finding his way into the spotlight. Many referred to him as “Top Step” Bobby.

In a game against the Toronto Blue Jays, he affirmed that reputation and sort of dispelled it altogether. It’s hard to be a Mets fan and not be familiar with the sight of Valentine and his faux mustache, sunglasses, hat and Mets t-shirt tucked away in the corner of the dugout—not out of the view from the cameras.

What’s less remembered is the set of circumstances which led to it. It all started in the 12th inning of a tie game with the Toronto Blue Jays. Valentine called for a pitchout in the hopes of holding the speedy Shannon Stewart on first base. Stewart, who happened to be running anyway, stole second as Mike Piazza‘s throw was off-target. But home plate umpire Randy Marsh said Piazza stepped too far from his position to receive the throw and called the rarely heard of “catcher’s balk.”

The Mets skipper came out to protest and was eventually ejected. So Bobby Valentine was out of the game—this version of Bobby Valentine, at least.

According to an MLB.com article from 2022, he was convinced to go back out by Orel Hershiser and Robin Ventura, who helped design the undercover look with eyeblack stickers for a mustache.

“I looked at [them] and they said no one will ever know,” Valentine said.
It didn’t take long before everyone knew. Hershiser tried to shield him in the dugout, but there was no hiding it.

After the game, one in which the Mets won in the 14th, Valentine humorously denied that the disguised man was him. It didn’t take a master detective to crack this case. “It’s going to cost me a lot of money,” he said later. “I don’t regret the fact that it lightened the team.”

The league wasn’t amused. Valentine was fined $5,000 and suspended for two games.

It was an attempt to ease what had been a tense period and the height of the dysfunctional power dispute between Valentine and his younger general manager Steve Phillips.

Following an eight-game losing streak, Phillips dismissed his pitching coach, hitting coach, and bullpen coach in a passive- aggressive ploy to get Bobby to resign. Instead, with Valentine holding his ground, the Mets won 15 of their next 18 and went 50-25 through the end of August, capturing the NL Wild Card and ultimately falling to the Braves in a hard-fought six-game NLCS.

Valentine is in high regard when it comes to best Mets managers. He was also one of the most entertaining. And this night was Exhibit A.