John William Valentin (born February 18, 1967) was born in Mineola, New York. He is a former shortstop and third baseman who played most of his major league career with the Boston Red Sox, with his final season being for his hometown New York Mets.

Although John maintained a respectable .279 batting average in his career, he turned it up a notch in the postseason in 1995, 1998, 1999 and hit .347 over 17 games with 5 homers and 19 RBI - including a two homer, seven RBI performance in Game 4 of the 1999 ALDS.

Valentin also hit for the cycle on 6/6/96 against the White Sox, and made an unassisted triple play on 7/8/94. He was awarded the AL Silver Slugger Award in 1995 (SS), and led the AL in doubles in 1997.

After retiring as a player, John was a minor league manager and coach, and subsequently was also a coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also owned a (now-closed) restaurant in New Jersey.

In his Letters from Home Plate response, John lists Ozzie Smith & Dave Conception as his favorite players growing up, David Cone, Mariano Rivera and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez (and others) as the toughest pitchers he ever faced, and Fenway Park as his favorite park to play in. HIs favorite teammate was Mo Vaughn (and others).

(excerpted from Baseball Almanac, BR Bullpen & Wikipedia)