Corky Valentine

News Obituary Article

OBITUARIES / CANTON: Corky Valentine, 76, Crackers pitcher, cop

By KAY POWELL

Corky Valentine pitched Hank Aaron his home run No. 10.

Mr. Valentine was playing for the Cincinnati Reds when he locked in his place in baseball posterity. He played for the Reds 1954-55 and joined the Atlanta Crackers in 1956. He helped the Crackers to two straight Southern Association championships.

Off the field, he was an Atlanta policeman.

"We didn't make all that much money in those days and I needed a winter-time job," he said in a 1987 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article.

The funeral for Harold Lewis "Corky" Valentine, 76, of Canton, who died of congestive heart failure Friday at North Fulton Hospital, is 3 p.m. today at Roswell Funeral Home.

Mr. Valentine claimed that the Russians were not the first in space; his gopher balls were.

"They say their Sputnik was the first thing put in orbit, but that's not true," Mr. Valentine told the AJC. "I had balls flying around up there long before they ever even thought about outer space. Heck, they used to say my best pitch was the rattle pitch. Every time I'd throw it, they'd rattle the boards with it."

He spent only two of his nine baseball seasons in the big leagues. Arm trouble sent him to the minor leagues.

"I have no regrets, though. The game was good to me, and I enjoyed my time in it," he said.

Mr. Valentine walked a beat policing downtown Atlanta until Fulton County formed a police department, which he joined in 1975.

Red Smith of Canton walked that beat with him while Mr. Valentine regaled him with stories about his baseball days, he said.

Mr. Valentine became a decorated officer. In April 1987, he was presented the March Public Safety Award from the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, North Area Council.

He was commended for his capture of three suspects in an armed robbery of the Crabapple Grocery Store. He retired in 1992.

Mr. Valentine, who had been a private pilot, enjoyed traveling in his recreational vehicle when he wasn't watching sports on television, said his daughter, Valerie Sullivan of Alpharetta.

In the days before remote controls, he would have two television sets on at once to watch games and a portable radio in his ear listening to a third, she said.

"People thought he had a hearing aid because they always saw him with that radio, even on the job," she said.

Other survivors include three sons, Dennis Valentine of Ball Ground and Timothy Valentine and Harold Lewis Valentine Jr., both of Canton; and four grandchildren.

© 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution