Report: Trump Considering Bobby Valentine for U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Photo by Keith Allison on Flickr/Creative Commons
President-Elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering former Red Sox manager and current Sacred Heart University athletic director Bobby Valentine for U.S. Ambassador to Japan.
Multiple sources say Valentine, who managed the Sox through their spectacularly bad 2012 campaign that coincided with Fenway Park’s 100th season, is one of several names on Trump’s shortlist, WEEI’s Rob Bradford reports. The two have been pals since the early 1980s, and Valentine is also close with Anthony Scaramucci of Trump’s transition team.
Valentine is arguably a bigger celebrity in Japan than stateside, skippering the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons and becoming the first American-born manager to win a championship in 2005. Valentine is reportedly friendly with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a fellow University of Southern California alum.
Prior to his stints with the Sox and the New York Mets, Valentine was manager of the Texas Rangers, whose team president Tom Schieffer later became Ambassador to Japan while Valentine coached the Marines.
Before any decision is made, however, Trump’s transition team would be wise to make absolutely certain they’re speaking with Valentine, and not the other guy.
