Sporting News staff reports
Rays left field Carl Crawford landed a verbal slap on ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine on Tuesday, a day after Valentine tweaked Crawford for diving to catch a line drive.
"Tell Bobby Valentine to take that. He said I could have caught that ball standing up. And I want to tell him, first inning, just getting warmed up, I definitely couldn’t have caught it standing. Everybody knows if I can catch a ball standing, I’m going to do it because I don’t want to get hurt," Crawford told reporters before Tampa Bay’s game in Anaheim. "I can’t believe he said that."
Then came this haymaker:
"Obviously he don’t know what it’s like to have this kind of ability."
In fact, Valentine was was a football and baseball star — like Crawford — more than 40 years ago in Connecticut. Valentine, like Crawford was recruited by major programs, including Southern California.
Sporting News staff reports
Rays left field Carl Crawford landed a verbal slap on ESPN analyst Bobby Valentine on Tuesday, a day after Valentine tweaked Crawford for diving to catch a line drive.
"Tell Bobby Valentine to take that. He said I could have caught that ball standing up. And I want to tell him, first inning, just getting warmed up, I definitely couldn’t have caught it standing. Everybody knows if I can catch a ball standing, I’m going to do it because I don’t want to get hurt," Crawford told reporters before Tampa Bay’s game in Anaheim. "I can’t believe he said that."
Then came this haymaker:
"Obviously he don’t know what it’s like to have this kind of ability."
In fact, Valentine was was a football and baseball star — like Crawford — more than 40 years ago in Connecticut. Valentine, like Crawford was recruited by major programs, including Southern California.