Ex-MLB manager Bobby Valentine enters mayoral race in Stamford, Connecticut

STAMFORD, Conn. -- Former Major League Baseball player and manager Bobby Valentine is taking a swing at politics, announcing Friday that he's running for mayor of his Connecticut hometown.

Valentine, 70, who currently serves as the athletic director at Sacred Heart University, posted a video on social media and said he'll run as an independent candidate in Stamford.

"The greatest commodity I have is my time, and I want to give my time and my energy and my wherewithal back to the city that has given me so much over my lifetime," he said.

Valentine, a Stamford native, was a three-sport high school star in the city.

He was drafted in 1968 by the Los Angeles Dodgers and played in the majors, where he was a career .260 hitter, from 1969 to 1979.

He became manager of the Texas Rangers in 1985 and also skippered the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox in addition to spending time in Japan, winning a Japan Series title in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines.

Valentine, who owns a sports bar in Stamford, served as the city's health and public safety director in 2011 before being hired by the Red Sox.

He joins a race that includes two Democrats: incumbent David Martin and state Rep. Caroline Simmons.