Ellis Valentine

Valentine played football and baseball at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles. He was the first professional athlete ever signed out of Crenshaw when the Montreal Expos selected him in the second round of the 1972 Major League Baseball draft.[2] He was quickly recognized as one of the top prospects in the Expos' lauded farm system.[3] He batted .289 with 27 home runs and 195 runs batted in over four different levels in four seasons to earn a September call up to Montreal at the end of the 1975 season. In his fifth major league at-bat, he hit his first major league home run off the Pittsburgh Pirates' Jim Rooker.[4] He remained in the Expos' line-up semi-regularly through the end of the season, posting a .364 batting average.

Gary Carter, who was an All-Star and finished second in National League Rookie of the Year balloting as the right fielder for the Expos in 1975, was shifted back to his natural position behind the plate for the 1976 season to make room for Valentine in right field.[5] After batting just .238 with two home runs and six RBIs through the middle of May, he was shipped back to the Triple-A Denver Bears for more seasoning.[6] He rejoined the Expos in mid-July, and batted .285 with five home runs and 33 RBIs the rest of the way.

On April 15, 1977, Valentine hit the first ever home run at Olympic Stadium.[7] He also hit two inside-the-park home runs for the home crowd during the Expos' inaugural season in their new stadium.[8]

Joining him in Montreal's outfield for the 1977 season would be 22-year-old center fielder Andre Dawson and 23-year-old left fielder Warren Cromartie. Their youth, speed and power soon made them the talk of the baseball world.[9] Valentine was the first to emerge as a star; he was the Expos' sole representative at the 1977 Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. Already recognized for his exceptional arm by this point in his career, he engaged in a throwing contest before the game with the Pittsburgh Pirates' Dave Parker, Los Angeles Dodgers' Reggie Smith and San Diego Padres' Dave Winfield, who were also recognized as having the finest throwing arms in the National League.[9] For the season, he batted a team leading .293, and finished second to Gary Carter with 25 home runs and 76 RBIs.

He, Cromartie and Dawson turned it up a notch in 1978. Valentine led the major leagues with 25 assists from the outfield to receive a Gold Glove Award as one of the National League's top three defensive outfielders. Meanwhile, Cromartie and Dawson also led their respective positions in outfield assists to give the Expos the unquestionable top defensive outfield in the major leagues. With their bats, Valentine and Dawson tied for the team lead with 25 home runs apiece, Valentine had a team leading 76 RBIs, Dawson scored a team leading 84 runs and Cromartie had a team leading .297 batting average.

The Expos were in a pennant race for the entire 1979 season, however, Valentine's 1979 season got off to a bumpy start. He was one-for-three with an RBI in the Expos' match-up with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 21, but that only brought his batting average up to an even .200, and his RBI total to four. In the eighth inning, with two outs and a runner on second, Valentine drew a walk, bringing future Hall of Famer Tony Pérez to the plate.[10]

Bruce Sutter induced a ground ball to short; Cubs shortstop Iván DeJesús flipped the ball to second baseman Ted Sizemore to force Valentine at second, and end the threat. Valentine disagreed with the call, and tossed his batting helmet into short right field in frustration. Believing that the helmet was tossed at him, second base umpire Steve Fields ejected Valentine from the game. Outraged, Valentine charged the umpire and bumped him.[11] Valentine received a three-game suspension and $500 fine for his actions.[12]

The controversy seemed to do him some good, as he started hitting right after the incident occurred. Valentine hit a pinch hit three-run home run to carry the Expos to a 7–5 victory over the San Francisco Giants in his first game back,[13] and went 12-for-33 with ten RBIs in his first ten games back from his suspension. In the first game of a May 27 doubleheader with the St. Louis Cardinals, he drove in six runs to carry the Expos to an 8–3 victory. In the second game, he drove in a seventh run to establish a club record for RBIs in a doubleheader.[14] The next day, he drove in four runs against the Philadelphia Phillies.[15] The Expos won a franchise best 95 games in 1979 to finish two games back of the Pittsburgh Pirates. For his part, Valentine batted .276 with 21 home runs and a career high 82 RBIs.

On May 30, 1980 Valentine was hit in the face with a pitch by Roy Thomas of the St. Louis Cardinals. His cheekbone cracked in six places, and he was forced to miss over a month of action. At the time of the incident, Valentine was leading his team with 27 RBIs, and was batting just under .300.[16] With slugging third baseman Larry Parrish also out of the line-up with a wrist injury, the Expos did surprisingly well in Valentine's absence; they went 21–16 to take a half-game lead in the National League East over the Phillies.

When Valentine finally returned on July 10, he began wearing part of a football face mask on his helmet. Though it looked strange, it briefly caught on with other players who were worried about similar injuries.[17]

He batted .331 with nine home runs and 39 RBIs over the rest of the season, as the Expos found themselves in a three-way race with the Pirates and Phillies in the NL East. Valentine played hurt through much of his team's stretch drive toward the pennant, but he was sidelined for much of it with a pinched nerve,[18] a hip injury[19] and a hand injury. On September 21, Valentine injured his wrist, ending his season.[20] The Expos surrendered first place in the division to the Phillies on the second to last day of the season.