Who amongst us isn’t dying to see a film about a misunderstood baseball genius with questionable social skills? Anybody? While former Rangers/Mets skipper Bobby Valentine suffers an unflattering Al Gore comparison from one observer, veteran baseball broadcaster / TV writer Ken Levine (“MASH”, “Frasier”, “Cheers”, “Everybody Loves Raymond”) recalls a few horror stories of occasions in which civilians have attempted to push a script upon him. Guess which widely-ridiculed manager’s name pops up? (link swiped from Baseball Prospectus)
When I was announcing for the Orioles I once got thrown out of Bobby Valentine’s office for asking tough questions. He was then the manager of the Texas Rangers. Fifteen minutes later I was summoned back, obviously to receive an apology. No. He had heard I was a writer and pitched me a movie. Try not to be an asshole first.
Years ago I and another writer, Larry, were asked to speak at a UCLA extension class. I was a story editor on MASH at the time and he was story editor of RHODA. As we stood in front of the class lecturing, a friend overhead one young woman saying to another: “I think I’ll fuck Larry. I’d rather do a RHODA”.