There's more to Bobby V than his success as Mets manager

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Ask Jay Horwitz, the Mets vice president of alumni public relations and team historian, and he will say that Bobby Valentine is going into the team’s Hall of Fame as much for his work off the field as for his success on it.

Yes, Valentine oversaw one of the most fruitful stretches in Mets history, taking over a fourth-place team in 1996 and lifting it, just a few years later, to consecutive playoff berths for the first time in franchise history. Yes, he took the Mets all the way to the World Series in 2000. Yes, he departed with the second-most wins and second-highest winning percentage of any manager in franchise history, trailing only Davey Johnson in both categories. (Terry Collins later passed Valentine in wins; Willie Randolph and Buck Showalter in success rate.)

Horwitz knows all that; his contention is not that Valentine’s managerial bona fides are half-baked. It’s just that Valentine’s impact outside the lines, particularly in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, is a significant reason why he’s entering the Mets Hall of Fame alongside Lee Mazzilli this Saturday.

“It was a major part of my life, that’s for sure,” Valentine said this month from his seats behind the first-base dugout in Anaheim, where he spends much of his time in semi-retirement. “When Fred [Wilpon] hired me the first time, he said, ‘I want to hire a person for 12 months, not for six months.’ I said, ‘I’m all in.’ There was always stuff out in the community, so we knew our way around. We knew the heartbeat. And then when the heart was broken on 9/11, we just went out there trying to mend it.”

In the days between Sept. 11 and the resumption of baseball in New York City on Sept. 21, Shea Stadium transformed into a staging ground for first responders and suppliers headed to Ground Zero. Valentine was a constant presence at the site, feeding workers at his nearby restaurant and organizing players and staffers to help with relief efforts. He personally visited Ground Zero on multiple occasions to encourage first responders.

“During that 10-day period,” Horwitz wrote in an email, “I don’t think he slept at all.”

For Valentine, the work did not end when normal life resumed. Among his many charitable efforts post-9/11, Valentine helped establish Tuesday’s Children, a nonprofit created to aid the more than 3,000 children who lost a parent in the attacks. That organization continues to operate today.

“It was something that I gave my all to,” Valentine said. “I gave my all to managing and coaching and playing. But when that happened, I was like everyone else wondering what to do. I was just always good at doing, and so I kept doing. And there was a lot to do.”

These days, Valentine spends most of his time in Southern California, with frequent trips to New York and Japan. Among the things keeping him busy are a sports academy in his hometown of Stamford, Conn., as well as work on various documentaries. The day before his Hall of Fame induction, Valentine will be at Citi Field to promote the fake-mustache-and-glasses giveaway created in his honor. Then it will be on to the main event -- celebrating a man who, both on and off the field, oversaw one of the most remarkable eras of Mets history.

“[It] was a spectacular part of my life,” Valentine said, “and I’m glad that it hasn’t been forgotten.”