Former main league utility participant Lenny Randle has handed away at 75. The Nationwide Baseball Corridor of Fame confirmed the information on Monday night.
Randle was a multi-sport collegiate star at Arizona State. He performed on the Solar Devils soccer workforce along with his work as ASU’s second baseman. He caught with baseball after being drafted by the Washington Senators in 1970. Randle jumped proper to Triple-A after the draft and made his huge league debut by his first full season. He remained with the franchise once they relocated to Texas and rebranded because the Rangers going into the ’72 marketing campaign.
After a number of seasons in a utility function, Randle broke via in 1974. He hit .302 and stole 26 bases (albeit with 17 instances caught stealing) throughout 151 video games. Randle performed a number of positions and was a helpful sufficient a part of the Texas roster to obtain down-ballot MVP assist. He had one other robust season in 1975, hitting .276 with 24 doubles throughout 676 plate appearances. He divided that season largely between second base and heart area.
Randle didn’t play as nicely in ’76. He misplaced his maintain on the beginning second base job the next spring. Randle threatened to go away camp, which led to public criticism from supervisor Frank Lucchesi (hyperlink through MLB.com). Randle confronted Lucchesi and, after a short trade, punched the supervisor a number of instances. Lucchesi was hospitalized with a fractured cheekbone. Randle would finally plead no contest to battery prices, resulting in a superb.
Whereas teammates and Texas beat reporters mentioned that form of outburst was out of character for the commonly soft-spoken Randle, the Rangers made the plain choice to maneuver on from him. Texas suspended him for a month and traded him to the Mets earlier than the ban was lifted. Randle moved to 3rd base in Queens, the place he had a robust first season. He hit .304 with a career-high 33 steals. His numbers dropped once more in ’78, after which he bounced across the league.
Randle had a cameo with the Yankees in 1979, performed considerably commonly for the Cubs the next season, then completed his MLB profession with two seasons in Seattle. Throughout his stint with the Mariners, Randle had the humorous play through which he blew a gradual curler down the third final analysis into foul territory after realizing he didn’t have a play on the ball. Umpires awarded the hitter first base.
Over a 12-year huge league profession, Randle hit .257/.321/.335. He was by no means a lot of an influence risk and solely linked on 27 house runs. The switch-hitter picked up 145 doubles and 40 triples whereas stealing 156 bases. He collected simply over 1000 hits and scored practically 500 runs. MLBTR joins others all through the sport in sending our condolences to Randle’s household, family members, buddies and former teammates.
