Bobby Valentine Compares Shohei Ohtani To Mozart, Talks Jazz Concerts At Jackie Robinson's House On 'Hot Mic'

Former MLB player and manager Bobby Valentine joined OutKick's Chad Withrow and Jonathan Hutton on Friday's edition of Hot Mic and he told some incredible stories from his decades of experience in and around baseball.

Valentine — who most recently managed the Boston Red Sox in 2012 and led the New York Mets to a National League pennant in 2000 — talked to the fellas about one of the biggest stars in the game today: Dodgers pitcher (eventually) and slugger, Shohei Ohtani.

He had some nice things to say and even compared him to Mozart, which is a comparison I bet you didn't see coming (unless you read the headline).

"When I see Shohei Ohtani, I see that thing that geniuses have," Valentine said. "He separates himself from even the greatest that he's playing against because he has some amazing traits that are able to separate him.

"He's kind of like Mozart going into the concert hall with 100 concert pianists and by the time the concert ends, everyone knows he's different than the rest of them."

Mozart, you say? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?!

Wow, that's high praise.

But is there anyone else who Valentine has seen play over the years that is on that level?

"I've seen like that; Barry was like that," he said. "Barry Bonds standing at the plate was different. he was a genius. He saw it, he hit it, he understood it just a little better than everyone else."

Bobby Valentine told OutKick's <i>Hot Mic </i>about the free jazz shows that baseball legend Jackie Robinson used to have at his house in Connecticut. (Getty Images)

Bobby Valentine Recalls Backyard Jazz Concerts At Jackie Robinson's House

Hutton asked Valentine for one last story about Jackie Robinson — who he knew through his father-in-law Ralph Branca, one of Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers teammates — and the story he told features some unbelievable names. It was so good.

Valentine said that Robinson lived in Stamford, Connecticut, which happens to be the same town that Valentine grew up in. 

"One of the things that [Robinson] was most famous for was his free jazz concerts in his backyard," Valentine said.

"During the ‘60s and the early ’70s, the guys from his old neighborhood — the Count Basies and the Louis Armstrongs and great black musicians — would come to Stamford, Connecticut and perform for free in his backyard."

You don't have to be a jazz scholar to know who Count Basie and Louis Armstrong are. That's just incredible.

But unfortunately, there's some sad subtext to this story.

"By the way, Stamford was a pretty white community," Valentine said. "[Robinson] was red-lined for awhile; not shown houses in a certain part of town."

Man, that sucks. Robinson had broken the color barrier on the ballfield but was still dealing with nonsense away from the game. 

Fortunately, — and here come more big names — some Stamford residents put their foot down.

"Carly Simon's father — of Simon & Schuster (the publishing house) who also lived in Stamford — met Jackie, heard about his dilemma, and found a piece of property and made sure that Jackie was the one to buy the property and build his home there."

Fortunately, it worked out and Robinson put on those jazz shows — which must have been incredible, by the way — and it's clear that Robinson left a big impact on Valentine.

"Jackie was a special guy," he said. "There's no doubt about that."

Be sure to watch Hot Mic live from 3 pm to 5 pm.