Fred Valentine

Biography

Fred Lee Valentine (January 19, 1935 – December 26, 2022) was an American professional baseball outfielder. He appeared in 533 games over all or part of seven seasons in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles (1959, 1963, and 1968) and Washington Senators (1964–1968). He also played one season for the Hanshin Tigers of Nippon Professional Baseball in 1970. Valentine was a switch hitter who threw right-handed; he was listed as 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m) tall and 190 pounds (86 kg). Valentine attended Tennessee State University and signed with Baltimore in 1956. After completing four seasons in the Orioles' farm system, he was called to Baltimore for his first MLB trial during the final month of the 1959 season. In limited service (12 games total, with seven starts in the outfield), he batted .316 with two multi-hit games. He then returned to the top level of minor league baseball, and would not get his second chance with the Orioles until his recall in June 1963. Again, he played sparingly (getting into only 26 games), but he batted .268 as a backup outfielder and pinch hitter. His contract was then sold to the Senators in October. In 1964, Valentine finally spent extended time on a big-league roster, getting into 102 games and substituting in all three outfield positions. But he struggled offensively, hitting only .226, and was demoted to Triple-A Hawaii for 1965. He then had a banner season with the Islanders, slugging 25 home runs, batting .324, and leading the Pacific Coast League in runs scored (116), earning him a September callup with the 1965 Senators. That campaign led to Valentine's career-best season, in 1966. He played in 146 games, starting 127 of them as either Washington's center fielder or right fielder. At the plate, he set personal bests in home runs (16) and runs batted in (59), while hitting a robust .276, second on the team to slugger Frank Howard's .278. He led the Senators in runs scored (77), hits (140) and doubles (29). Then, in 1967,

Bio from Wikipedia