Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day, a day filled with love and romanticism. Most folks will spend their big day ordering flowers or some kind of edible arrangement in hopes of getting gently laid. High-class individuals may step it up and enjoy a gourmet heart-shaped Domino's pizza.

I choose to take a different approach. I seize this opportunity to celebrate another Valentine in my life. Bobby Valentine. 

The NFL is over and Patrick Mahomes has his second Super Bowl ring. It's time to welcome major league baseball back into our sporting lives. Pitchers and catchers have reported and gloves are popping in warmer weather. In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a great baseball memory for you. 

The photo you see above is from June 1999 following an ejection and Bobby Valentine went into "disguise" to finish out the game in the dugout. There's nothing quite like a good manager ejection in baseball, but this one was different from the rest.

It was an extra innings game, and in the 12th inning Bobby Valentine called a pitchout to try and prevent a Blue Jays player from advancing to scoring position. Speaking of Patrick Mahomes, his dad Pat Mahomes was the pitcher at this particular point in the game, a fun fact! Anyway, the homeplate umpire said Piazza was too far out of the box on the pitchout and deemed it a "catcher's balk". Valentine argued the call and eventually got tossed. 

After retreating to the clubhouse, he threw on some sunglasses and a fake mustache made out of eye black stickers and came back out to the dugout. A foolproof disguise if I've ever seen one. He had Orel Hershiser try to block him from being seen, but it didn't work. He hunkered down in the shadows but the cameras spotted him almost immediately and the announcers had a good laugh. 

He was caught red-handed, fined $5,000 and suspended 2 games. The Mets ended up winning the game in the 14th inning on a walk-off single. Valentine spoke on the incident 22 years later and claimed that it provided the team with some much-needed levity. It must've worked because the Mets broke out of a slump and went on to make the playoffs that season. Happy Valentine's Day to those who observe!