RIP Lenny Randle, 1949-2024

[G-Fafif]

Lenny Randle has reportedly passed away.

[Edgy MD]

Man, this year takes and takes.

My cousin James fondly recalls his first-ever Mets game sitting, by chance, next to Lenny Randle's mom.

Lenny was a halfback on a baseball field. Loved to run on pure instinct, putting up a shockingly bad stolen-base percentage along the way.

Supposedly, back in Jackie Robinson's time, if you felt a pitcher was throwing at you, typical practice wasn't to wait until he got up and depend on your pitcher to send him a message, but rather to bunt the ball down the first base line and run over the pitcher as he went to cover first. Or, if the pitcher fielded the ball himself, plow him directly.

Supposedly. But the only time I ever saw that play in direct retaliation, though, was when Lenny did it. A sweet and interesting guy, but a scrapper when he felt wronged.



How many weird things is he known for? Punching his manager, blowing a ball foul, being at the plate when the lights went out ... the guy was a TWiB highlight reel all by himself.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Did an awful, terrible thing in Texas and then found redemption in New York. Was one of the few bright spots on that free-falling 1977 Mets squad, having the best season of his career and becoming an instant Mets fan favorite. In hindsight and upon reflection, it's surprising that the very conservative-thinking Mets brass of that era would've acquired Randle in the first place after the Texas scandal.

How many weird things is he known for? Punching his manager, blowing a ball foul, being at the plate when the lights went out ... the guy was a TWiB highlight reel all by himself.

Here's some more Randle weirdness: He played in two games that ended up as forfeits: The last Washington Senators game ever, which was forfeited after fans stormed the field before the game ended in protest over the team's move to Texas and the ten cent beer game in Cleveland that was rendered unplayable after rowdy, drunken fans commandeered the stadium, the stands and the playing field itself.




One of the cooler cards from one of my all-time favorite Topps sets:

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm not seeing any news reports of his death yet.

Meanwhile, there's this:

[Chad ochoseis]

"But the Mets, who have had experience with the authorities in Florida..."

I assume that's an oblique reference to the Cleon Jones arrest, which happened two years before in St. Petersburg.

[Edgy MD]

Not a lot of cartoons featuring Joe Frazier, let alone Joe Frazier behind a mask. One could hardly blame the targeted reader for not recognizing him.

Fortunately, Basement Bertha is here to help.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Jack Lang went a little over the top in the lead. He's almost trivializing a serious matter.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Randle brought some energy to that sad 77 Mets squad. Big fan of the sliding baseball card. That was a handsome set.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Randle batted over .300 in his first Mets season -- no small feat in those days as Shea Stadium, pre-Doubleday ownership, was absolutely brutal -- just sheer hell on batting averages. After Randle's '77 season, the Mets franchise had about as many instances of single season .300 hitters as the Red Sox had batting champions in roughly the same time frame.

[G-Fafif]

Jay Horwitz shares his memories of Lenny Randle.

[bmfc1]

At Fantasy Camp in 2009, Lenny was a coach on my team. When I finally got my first hit, Lenny ran on the field to get the ball. He signed it and added “To Jeff, A great hitter”. RIP Lenny.

[Edgy MD]

That's a fantasy camp worthy of its name.

I'd been FB friends with Lenny, and he's spent much a lot of time in recent decades coaching and helping to build the game in Italy, having previously been the first MLB vet to play professionally in Bel Paese.

Hey! That's another weird Lenny Randle thing. First big leaguer to play professionally in Italy!

Aside from promoting Italian baseball, he used social media to promote his sons' achievements in football — a sport he also played at ASU.

[metirish]

At Fantasy Camp in 2009, Lenny was a coach on my team. When I finally got my first hit, Lenny ran on the field to get the ball. He signed it and added “To Jeff, A great hitter”. RIP Lenny.

Can't believe that was 2009, time flies , great story

[Benjamin Grimm]

Five honorary Schaefer points to whomever can verify the date of his death. (I haven't found it yet.) You can get that sixth Schaefer point if you can also identify the place of death.

[Bob Alpacadaca]

https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastba ... jgek2gszp2

Hall of Fame says Sunday.

[smg58]

How has nobody mentioned this?

[Benjamin Grimm]

https://www.si.com/fannation/mlb/fastba ... jgek2gszp2

Hall of Fame says Sunday.

Thank you!

[Edgy MD]

How has nobody mentioned this?

Shame on us all.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Randle died in Murrieta, California.

Lenny Randle, ‘Most Interesting’ Major Leaguer, Is Dead at 75

His career was defined by bizarre episodes — blowing a rolling ball foul, knocking down a pitcher and being at bat when the lights went out in New York City.

Lenny Randle, a versatile major league ballplayer whose career was defined by unusual events — he once blew a ground ball into foul territory, battered his manager on another occasion and was at bat for the Mets when the power went out in New York City — died on Sunday at his home in Murrieta, Calif. He was 75.

His wife, Linda Randle, confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause.

Randle was playing third base for the Seattle Mariners on May 27, 1981, at the Kingdome in Seattle, when Amos Otis of the Kansas City Royals tapped a ground ball that trickled toward third. As it continued to roll in fair territory, on artificial turf, Randle dropped to his hands and knees and blew on the ball, huffing and puffing until it veered foul. The home plate umpire, Larry McCoy, called it a foul ball.

But Jim Frey, the Royals’ manager, lodged a protest with the umpires, and McCoy reversed his call, sending Otis to first base.

Randle insisted that he had only been talking to the ball.

“I said, ‘Please go foul, go foul,’” he said afterward. “I did not blow on it. I just used the power of suggestion.”

By then, Randle was near the end of a peripatetic career, which had begun in 1971 with the Washington Senators. (He remained with the team when it moved to Texas, becoming the Texas Rangers.) He also played for the Mets and the Yankees as well as the Chicago Cubs. He was known for his speed and reliability, whether playing at second base, third base, shortstop or center field. A switch-hitter, he had a career batting average of .257, with 27 home runs and 322 runs batted in.

He had his best season in 1977, with the Mets, with a batting average of .304, five home runs, 27 runs batted in and 33 stolen bases. But in baseball lore those statistics were, in more ways than one, overshadowed by the great New York City blackout that year.

On July 13, the Mets were trailing the Cubs, 2-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning at Shea Stadium when Randle came to the plate. The Cubs pitcher Ray Burris went into his windup when, suddenly, as if a giant switch had been flicked off, the lights went out.

“I thought, ‘God, I’m gone,’” Randle told The New York Times. “I thought for sure He was calling me. I thought it was my last at-bat.”

Ten years later, he told Newsday: “I couldn’t figure out whether he threw the ball or not, so I just swung. Then I didn’t know whether I hit the ball or not, so I took off.” When he pulled into second base, he added, the Cubs’ Manny Trillo “was waiting for me to hug and kiss him.”

In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine called Randle baseball’s version of the “most interesting man in the world.” Several months later, the MLB Network premiered the documentary “Lenny Randle: The Most Interesting Man in Baseball.”
Leonard Schenoff Randle was born on Feb. 12, 1949, in Long Beach, Calif., and grew up in nearby Compton. His father, Isaac, was a longshoreman, and his mother, Ethel Lee (Smith) Randle, worked in the garment industry.

After playing baseball and football at Centennial High School in Compton, Randle went to Arizona State University, where he was part of the Sun Devils’ 1969 N.C.A.A. championship. He also played varsity football. He was chosen 10th overall, by the Senators, in the secondary phase of the Major League Baseball draft in 1970. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1973.

Randle continued to be in the middle of bizarre doings. In 1974, he was at bat for the Rangers when the Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Milt Wilcox threw the ball behind him, nearly striking Randle. Then, after laying down a drag bunt along the first base line, Randle retaliated, deliberately running off the base path to knock Wilcox down, sparking a brawl.

And during spring training with the Rangers in 1977, Randle lost the starting second base job to Bump Wills and became so upset that he punched the team’s manager, Frank Lucchesi, three times, causing a triple fracture to his right cheekbone and other injuries.

“I never thought it would come to this,” Randle said afterward. “I’m just not that kind of person.”

He was suspended for 30 days and fined $10,000 by the league. In court he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery, was fined $1,050 and settled a civil lawsuit filed by Lucchesi. Randle was then traded to the Mets a month into the 1977 season.

The Mets were entering an especially dismal phase in their history: They would win 64 games that year and finish in last place in the National League East. But Randle excelled that year. On July 9, when the Mets played the Montreal Expos, he had hits in 13 of his last 14 games and was batting .310.

During one game he made two diving catches, one saving a run. Then, in the bottom of the 17th inning, he crashed a two-run home run off Will McEnaney into the left field bullpen at Shea to win the game.

After struggling in 1978, Randle was released by the Mets during spring training the next year. He played in the minor leagues in the San Francisco Giants’ and Pittsburgh Pirates’ systems before the Yankees acquired him on Aug. 3, 1979, the day after Thurman Munson, their All-Star catcher, died in the crash of an airplane he was piloting.

Randle played sparingly for the Yankees but had a strong season for the Cubs in 1980. He finished his M.L.B. career with Seattle in 1982.

In addition to his wife, whom he had met in elementary school when she was Linda Bradley, Mr. Randle is survived by their sons Bradley, Kumasi and Ahmad; three grandchildren; four sisters, Becky Osborne, Ruthie Downs, Barbara Edney and Theresa Price; and two brothers, Ronald Randle and Clyde Williams.

Randle continued playing baseball for several years in the Italian Baseball League, or Serie A1. He was the first former major leaguer to play professionally in Italy and led the league in batting with a .477 average in 1983 playing for the Nettuno team, which he later managed. Fans nicknamed him “Cappuccino” for his “hard-hustling play, charismatic swagger and impish sense of humor,” according to Rolling Stone.

He also ran a baseball academy and conducted instructional clinics, spoke five languages, performed stand-up comedy and recorded music with his band, Ballplayers.

“He was like the wind that can never be harnessed,” Ms. Randle said in an interview. “He was never upset, mad or mean, and always had something positive to give to you.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/01/spor ... -dead.html

[Benjamin Grimm]

Randle died in Murrieta, California.

Thank you!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I wrote an email to Randle to ask about his nui number and he replied in ALL CAPS NUMBER 11 WAS FOR 1 GOD IN MY LIFE AND FOR BILLY MARTIN WHO WAS MY MENTOR IN BASEBALL...

Here's his awesome recording (d'oh missed smg's post above):

[Edgy MD]

I hope this thread lives forever.

[G-Fafif]

Lenny lit up the darkest of Met years. Wrote at length about him and 1977 while waiting for ball to be played in 2020.

https://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/ ... ny-randle/

Embarrassing personal anecdote (about me, not Lenny) included.

[bmfc1]

At Fantasy Camp in 2009, Lenny was a coach on my team. When I finally got my first hit, Lenny ran on the field to get the ball. He signed it and added “To Jeff, A great hitter”. RIP Lenny.

Can't believe that was 2009, time flies , great story

Neither can I. Thanks, metirish.