organization and was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. His roommate at USC was Bill Buckner who was the Dodgers second round pick in 1968. Playing career Minor leagues (1968–1970) At age 18, Valentine made his professional debut playing with the Ogden Dodgers of the Rookie Pioneer League, winning the league's MVP Award, hitting .281 with a .460 slugging percentage and leading the league with 20 stolen bases. He was one of only three players in the league to appear in every game. His roommate was Tom Paciorek and was also teammates with Bill Buckner and Steve Garvey. The manager at Ogden was Tommy Lasorda, the start of a friendship that has lasted four decades. In 1969, Valentine impressive enough in Spring Training that he was promoted to the Class AAA Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League. After the PCL season ended, he debuted with the Los Angeles Dodgers as a September call-up in 1969 at 19 years old. Though he did not record a major league at-bat that season, he appeared in 5 games as a pinch runner, scoring three runs. Back with the Spokane Indians for 1970, Valentine was again his league's MVP after batting .340 with fourteen home runs and leading the Pacific Coast League in eight offensive categories. Led by Valentine and manager Lasorda, Spokane won the league championship over the Hawaii Islanders. He suffered a fractured cheekbone when he was beaned in the PCL playoffs that season and also had right knee surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in January 1971. Los Angeles Dodgers (1971–1972) Valentine made the Dodgers out of Spring Training in 1971 and batted .249 with one home run and 25 RBIs in 101 games. His first career MLB hit came on April 25, 1971, an RBI single off Milt Wilcox, scoring Steve Garvey in a 4–2 Dodgers win over the Reds. The following season in 1972, he managed to play in 119 games by playing many different positions—including shortstop, second base, third and all three outfield positions and his batting average improved to .274. He missed time after sustaining a broken nose. Following the season on November 28, 1972, he was packaged in a trade along with Frank Robinson, Billy Grabarkewitz, Bill Singer and Mike Strahler to the California Angels for Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen. California Angels (1973–1975) Prior to the start of the 1973 season, Valentine was