Up Front
THE MOST EXPENSIVE PAIR OF
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Former Boston Red Sox shortstop,
John Valentin, likes to live large. That became apparent on the base-
ball field, where he became the first player to both turn an unassisted triple play and hit for the cycle. The first feat came at Fenway Park in a Red Sox game against the Seattle Mariners on July 8, 1994. He then hit for the cycle nearly two years later on June 6, 1996, also at Fenway, in a game against the Chicago White Sox. But there is something
else Valentin evidently likes to hit: bowling pins. Asbury Park Press report- ed on March 5 that the 20,000 sq.-foot mansion he and his wife planned for years but ultimately never lived
LANES IN BOWLING? THE STORY OF FORMER BASEBALL PLAYER JOHN VALENTIN’S OPULENT MANSION, AND THE TWO-LANE BOWLING ALLEY IT HOUSES.
in includes, among other decadent amenities, a two-lane bowling alley. The mansion also includes an indoor pool, a racquetball court, a well-stocked gym, a sauna, an arcade room, and a movie theater. Over 11 seasons in the major
leagues, Valentin reportedly earned in excess of $32 million. He played ten of those seasons with the Red Sox and made $6,350,000 per year from 1999- 2001. He retired in 2002 after a one-sea- son stint with the New York Mets, and now serves as assistant hitting coach
for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Residents such as Geraldo Rivera and
Jon Bon Jovi called Middletown, N.J., home when the Valentins erect-
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ed the opulent domicile there on 858 Navesink River Road. Some neighbors were none-too-pleased when they saw plans for the mansion begin to take shape. ‘’Imagine if you lived in a two-story house and suddenly a Hilton went up right next to you,’’ Genie Flinn, who
John Valentin’s days of turning triple plays for the Red Sox are long behind him now, but he remains in baseball as assistant hitting coach for the L.A. Dodgers.
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lived next door, told the New York Times in 1999. After completing the mansion in 2004 and finding no buyers for it when the Valentins opted to sell rather than stay, they auctioned it off for $7.37 million, far lower than the original ask- ing price of $11.9 million. According to
HomesOfTheRich.net, the mansion’s current occupants con- ducted a full-scale renovation of the property, and Asbury Park Press now says it’s back on the market for $14.8 million. You might consider that the most expensive pair of lanes in bowling!
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EVERYTHING BOWLING, ALL THE TIME
This two-lane bowling alley is but one of many luxurious attractions in the Valentin mansion, which also houses a movie theater, an indoor pool, a racquetball court, and more.
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