Conversations With Griff Presents Ellis Valentine

Griff welcomes former Expos outfielder Ellis Valentine, discussing his career as a blossoming young Montreal baseball star in the '70s, derailed in the early '80s by injury and immaturity, from what once was a Hall-of-Fame career path, to finding himself out of MLB prematurely due to injury and a self-destructive lifestyle. The L.A. native talks about his journey from high school star, to second round draft pick in 1972, mentored by Mel Didier and Karl Kuehl in the Expos organization. He talks about similarities with the Jays' homegrown duo of Vlad Jr. and Bo Bichette, as he was linked in his early career with Hall-of-Fame catcher Gary Carter, advancing to the majors year by year from the same draft class and with similar potential. Valentine's big personality shines through as he talks about what it was like being young and an Expo, surrounded by a roster of like-minded friends, winning games in 1979-80, all in their early 20's all single and coming into their own together, with a fanbase that had a chance to get to know them in downtown srettings after almost every game. Ellis offers an opinion on what has happened to the African-American presence in the majors, his dislike of Gene Mauch, how he lost his peripheral vision for three full years after being hit in the face by Roy Thomas of the Cardinals, his trade to the Mets in 1981, his retirement, realizing he needed help and facing the problems head-on. A true Redemption Song of freedom.

INDEX:

0:00 – Intro

1:31 – 1972 Draft and Being Selected alongside Gary Carter and Bobby Goodman

3:15 – Great Throwing Arms of his Era + Addison Barger

6:50 – Remembering Mel Didier

8:17 – Power Outage Throwing Contest at Olympic Stadium

10:31 – Love of Montreal

12:00 – Being at Athlete in Montreal in the 1970's

15:10 – Growing up in LA and Love of Crenshaw High School

20:45 – MLB Moving Back Towards Contact Over Homeruns?

25:35 – Gene Mauch

32:25 – 1977 All-Star Game

35:30 – Unfortunate Decrease in African American Ball Players and How to Address it

44:10 – Gary Carter

51:10 – Outfielder Development

53:54 – Winter Meetings and Larry Doby

55:45 – Lack of Mentors for Young Players

57:05 – The Redemption of Ellis Valentine + Life After Baseball

1:08:00 - Outro

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Get the audio version of "Griff's Conversations" and the "Exit Philosophy Podcast" wherever you get your podcasts, including:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...

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For the full catalogue of Richard Griffin's work, including weekly Blue Jays/MLB columns, a weekly MLB Power Rankings column, exclusive conversations with some of the game's greats, past and present, and the Exit Philosophy podcast, visit https://www.griffsthepitch.com/ #MontrealExpos #MLB

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Get the video version of "Exit Philosophy" and "Conversations with Griff" on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/@ExitPhilosophy

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For the full catalogue of Richard Griffin's work, including weekly Blue Jays/MLB columns, a weekly MLB Power Rankings column, exclusive conversations with some of the game's greats, past and present, and the Exit Philosophy podcast, visit https://www.griffsthepitch.com/