Lenny Randle

Leonard Shenoff Randle (February 12, 1949 – December 29, 2024) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers franchise, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, and Seattle Mariners from 1971 to 1982. He also played in the Italian Baseball League. The National Baseball Hall of Fame wrote that "Randle may have seen more memorable moments than any other player of his era."

Early life Born on February 12, 1949, in Long Beach, California, Randle was captain of both the baseball and football teams at Centennial High School in Compton. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 10th round (190th overall) 1967 Major League Baseball draft, but chose instead to attend Arizona State University. Along with playing college football and second base for the 1969 NCAA championship Arizona State Sun Devils baseball team, After a little more than one season in the minors, Randle debuted as a second baseman with the Washington Senators in 1971. He made his major league debut on June 16, going 1-for-4 in a 5–1 loss to the Oakland Athletics. He split time between the minors and with the newly renamed and relocated Texas Rangers his first three seasons, spending most of 1973 in Triple-A with the Spokane Indians.

Randle had a breakthrough 1974 season, batting .302 with a home run, 49 RBI, 26 stolen bases and 65 runs scored in 151 games while splitting time at second base, third base and in the outfield. This incident preceded the 10 Cent Beer Night riot in Cleveland six days later on June 4.

1977 punching incident During spring training in 1977, first round draft choice Bump Wills earned the starting second base job over Randle. On March 28, the Rangers were in Orlando for an exhibition game with the Minnesota Twins. During batting practice an hour before the first pitch, Randle approached Rangers manager Frank Lucchesi. Suddenly, Randle punched Lucchesi in the face three times before the altercation was stopped by bystanders. Randle said that Lucchesi had called him a "punk", and, though Lucchesi denied it, he had done so to a group of reporters and insisted they print it. On April 26, before the suspension was complete, Texas traded him to the New York Mets for cash and a player to be named later; Texas later received Rick Auerbach.

Randle was charged with assault, and pleaded no contest to battery charges in a Florida court, receiving a $1,050 fine. The Rangers fired Lucchesi on June 21. Lucchesi sued Randle for $200,000. They settled for $20,000.

New York Mets Randle began his tenure with the Mets playing second base. With opening day third baseman Roy Staiger batting only .236 with one home run and eight runs batted in, Randle was shifted to third base by Joe Torre when he replaced Joe Frazier as manager of the team.

Randle ended an extra innings marathon with the Montreal Expos on July 9 at Shea Stadium in the seventeenth inning with a walk off home run off Will McEnaney. Four days later, he was at bat for the Mets when the power went out at Shea Stadium during the New York City blackout of 1977. He commented, "I thought, 'God, I'm gone.' I thought for sure He was calling me. I thought it was my last at‐bat."

For the season, Randle batted .304 with five home runs, 27 RBI, a career-high 33 stolen bases and 78 runs scored in 136 games for the last place Mets.

San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees After his release from the Mets, Randle signed with the San Francisco Giants on May 12, 1979, and was assigned to their Triple-A Pacific Coast League affiliate in Phoenix. He was traded along with Bill Madlock and Dave Roberts from the Giants to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Al Holland, Ed Whitson and Fred Breining on June 28, but again was assigned to their Triple-A affiliate. After 24 games with the Portland Beavers, he saw his first major league experience of the season when his contract was purchased by the New York Yankees on August 3. He batted .179 with 3 RBI in 20 games as an outfielder with the Yankees. By the end of spring training, he was dealt to the Chicago Cubs. He batted .276 and with five home runs, 39 RBI and 19 stolen bases as the Cubs' regular third baseman. In two seasons with the Mariners, he batted .223 with four home runs and 26 RBI backing up second and third base.

In a 12-year, 1,138 game major league career, Randle batted .257 (1,016-for-3,950) with 27 home runs, 488 runs scored and 322 RBI. In October 1983, he was featured on 60 Minutes for his involvement with Italian baseball.

Legacy The unusual events throughout Randle's career led Rolling Stone to call him a "viable candidate" for "baseball's version of 'The Most Interesting Man in the World'". Later that year in 2015, the documentary "Lenny Randle: The Most Interesting Man in Baseball" premiered on MLB Network.