MLBWeird But True

Bobby Valentine Crashes Bike While Reading Text In Apparent Attempt To Make The Red Sox’ Season Even More Ridiculous

by Glenn Davis | 10:12 am, October 3rd, 2012

You know not much has gone right for the Red Sox this year – the last-place 69-92 record with a game left to play, the reported strong anti-Bobby-Valentine sentiments among many players, the insane megatrade with the Dodgers that signaled the team was pretty much ready to blow it up and start over – the Red Sox have been something of a circus this year.

And what’s a circus without a great closing act? Not much of a circus at all. So Valentine, kind, giving man that he is, provided a fitting coda to this season – and probably, despite what he has or hasn’t been told, his Red Sox tenure (unless the Red Sox completely lose their minds and bring him back next year) – in one fell swoop yesterday:

In the final days of one of the most painful seasons of his career, Red Sox Manager Bobby Valentine on Tuesday lay entangled with his bicycle at the bottom of a ditch next to the Central Park Reservoir.

On the wet, slippery path, Valentine was reading a text on his phone from Dustin Pedroia, the Red Sox second baseman, and riding his bicycle. When he looked up, he had to swerve to avoid the umbrellas of two French tourists walking in front of him. The bike skidded, and he lost his balance and went careening head over pedals down the side of the hill by the road.

Texting (or just text-reading) while biking – don’t do it, kids. Valentine sustained minor knee and hip injuries from the accident, and in all seriousness, we’re of course glad that he wasn’t hurt any worse than that, and that this is all just the last gag in the dark slapstick comedy that is 2012 Boston Red Sox baseball. And to his credit, Valentine owned his mistake: