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 staff 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 after they relocated to Texas and rebranded because the Rangers going into the ’72 marketing campaign.
After a couple of seasons in a utility function, Randle broke by in 1974. He hit .302 and stole 26 bases (albeit with 17 occasions caught stealing) throughout 151 video games. Randle performed a number of positions and was a useful 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 principally between second base and middle discipline.
Randle didn’t play as nicely in ’76. He misplaced his maintain on the beginning second base job the next spring. Randle threatened to depart camp, which led to public criticism from supervisor Frank Lucchesi (hyperlink by way of MLB.com). Randle confronted Lucchesi and, after a quick trade, punched the supervisor a number of occasions. Lucchesi was hospitalized with a fractured cheekbone. Randle would finally plead no contest to battery prices, resulting in a advantageous.
Whereas teammates and Texas beat reporters mentioned that type of outburst was out of character for the commonly soft-spoken Randle, the Rangers made the plain resolution 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 powerful 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 usually 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 sluggish curler down the third bottom line 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 menace and solely related 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, mates and former teammates.
