| Willie Randolph | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Randolph with the New York Yankees in 1984 | |||||||||||||||
| Second baseman /Manager | |||||||||||||||
| Born: (1954-07-06)July 6, 1954 (age 71) Holly Hill, South Carolina, U.S. | |||||||||||||||
Batted: Right Threw: Right | |||||||||||||||
| MLB debut | |||||||||||||||
| July 29, 1975, for the Pittsburgh Pirates | |||||||||||||||
| Last MLB appearance | |||||||||||||||
| October 4, 1992, for the New York Mets | |||||||||||||||
| MLB statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Batting average | .276 | ||||||||||||||
| Hits | 2,210 | ||||||||||||||
| Home runs | 54 | ||||||||||||||
| Runs batted in | 687 | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial record | 302–253 | ||||||||||||||
| Winning % | .544 | ||||||||||||||
Stats atBaseball Reference  | |||||||||||||||
| Managerial record at Baseball Reference | |||||||||||||||
| Teams | |||||||||||||||
As player
As manager As coach | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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Medals
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William Larry Randolph (born July 6, 1954) is an American former professional baseballsecond baseman,coach, andmanager. During an 18-year career inMajor League Baseball (MLB), he played from 1975 to 1992 for six different teams, most notably theNew York Yankees with whom he won back-to-back world titles against theLos Angeles Dodgers. He has joinedESPN as a post-season baseball analyst, beginning in September 2013. Mainly, he appeared onBaseball Tonight and provided updates during Monday and Wednesday night September network telecasts.
At the end of his playing career, he ranked fifth in major league history in games at second base (2,152), ninth inputouts (4,859), seventh inassists (6,336), eighth intotal chances (11,429), and third indouble plays (1,547). Upon retiring as a player, he joined the Yankees as a coach for 11 years. He later served as manager of theNew York Mets from 2005 to June 2008, leading the Mets to a league-best record and theNational League Championship Series in 2006.
Randolph grew up inBrooklyn,New York, and graduated fromSamuel J. Tilden High School, where he was a star athlete and was drafted by thePittsburgh Pirates in the 7th round of the 1972 draft. He made his major league debut in 1975, and was, at age 21, the sixth-youngest player in theNational League.
He was traded withDock Ellis andKen Brett from the Pirates to the Yankees forDoc Medich on December 11, 1975.[1]
Randolph spent 13 of his 18 seasons as a player with the Yankees and wasco-captain of the Yankees with Ron Guidry from 1986 to 1988. He later played for theLos Angeles Dodgers (1989–90),Oakland Athletics (1990), andMilwaukee Brewers (1991), finishing his career with theNew York Mets in 1992. He was selected to sixAll-Star teams over his career. As a career number 2 hitter in the order, he made use of his skills asbunter and a patient hitter who drew more than 80walks seven times.
Randolph was also an outstanding defensive player, known especially for his ability to turn thedouble play. However, he never received theGold Glove Award, which was perennially awarded to his equally sure-handed and more acrobatic and wide-ranging contemporaries:Frank White of theKansas City Royals andLou Whitaker of theDetroit Tigers. He was the Yankees' starting second baseman on the1977 and1978 World Series Championship teams.
In 1980 Randolph led the league in walks (119) and was second in theAL inon-base percentage (.427), eighth instolen bases (30) and ninth inruns (99), and won theSilver Slugger Award at second base in the AL. He also batted .332 leading off the inning, and .340 with men in scoring position.
Randolph was involved in a controversial play during Game 2 of the1980 American League Championship Series. He was on second base in the top of the eighth with two outs and the Yankees down by a run.Bob Watson hit a ball to the left field corner ofRoyals Stadium. Though the ball bounced toWillie Wilson, third base coachMike Ferraro waved Randolph home. Wilson overthrewU L Washington, thecut-off man, butGeorge Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw toDarrell Porter, who tagged out Randolph in a slide. TV cameras captured a furiousGeorge Steinbrenner fuming, hollering and swearing immediately after the play resulting in him being restrained by police when he tried to gain access to the field. The Yankees lost the game 3–2, then lost the series in three games.[2]
In 1987 he batted .305 with a career-high 67 RBIs and led the league in at bats per strikeout (18.0), and was fourth in the AL in OBP (.411) and ninth in walks (82). He also batted .366 in tie games, and .345 in games that were late and close.
In December 1988 he signed as afree agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Randolph led the Dodgers in batting average and hits in 1989, making his sixth All-Star team. In May 1990 he was traded by the Dodgers to the defending-world champion Oakland Athletics forStan Javier. Later that year, Randolph and the A's won the American League pennant, but were swept by the NL-championCincinnati Reds in the World Series.
In April 1991 he signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers. That year, Randolph was second in the AL on-base percentage (.424) and third in batting average (.327). He batted .373 with runners in scoring position.
In December 1991 he signed as a free agent with the New York Mets. In 1992, at 37 years old he was the eighth-oldest player in the NL. In his last career game with the Mets, the team's second baseman of the futureJeff Kent moved to make his start atshortstop to allow Randolph to play his final game at second base.[3]
Tommy John, Randolph's teammate with the Yankees, called him the "stabilizing influence" and "the club's quiet leader".[4] "You couldn't believe how good Willie was until you were on the same team and saw him play every day," John said.[4]
Randolph was a Yankees base andbench coach for 11 seasons, interviewing intermittently for managing jobs with other teams.
In 2004, Randolph was named Mets manager for the2005 season. He became the eighth person to play for and later manage the Mets, joiningGil Hodges,Yogi Berra,Joe Torre,Bud Harrelson,Roy McMillan,Dallas Green, andBobby Valentine (as well asinterim managerMike Cubbage).[1][5] Randolph earned his first win as a manager on April 10, 2005, defeating theAtlanta Braves 2–1.[6] The win halted a five-game losing streak to start the 2005 season. He then guided the Mets to five straight additional victories, giving the Mets their first six-game winning streak since August 2003.Randolph ended his first season as manager of the 2005 Mets with an 83–79 record, the first time the franchise had finished above .500 since 2001, and 12 games better than the prior season. That record got them a tie for third place in theNational League East.
In 2006, Randolph managed the Mets to a league-best 97–65 record (which also tied for the best record in the majors with the crosstown Yankees) and the NL East Division title (the team's first division championship since 1988). The Mets came within one game of reaching the World Series, losing the seventh game of theNL Championship Series to the eventual world championSt. Louis Cardinals. Randolph was the first manager in major league history to have his team's record improve by at least 12 games in each of his first two seasons (excluding seasons following strike-shortened seasons). He came in second place in the 2006 NLManager of the Year voting, losing toFlorida Marlins managerJoe Girardi. On January 24, 2007, Randolph signed a three-year, $5.65 million contract extension with the Mets. He had a club option for 2010 worth an additional $2.5 million.[7]
In 2007, Randolph was managing the Mets when they had one of the worst collapses in major league history. Holding a seven-game first-place lead in the NL East with only 17 games to play, the Mets finished 5–12 and lost the division to thePhiladelphia Phillies, who went 13–4 in the same timespan.[8]
In 2008, Randolph's job security steadily decreased after a disappointing start to the season and inconsistent performance through mid-June. On June 17, 2008, less than two hours after the Mets' 9–6 road victory over theLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Randolph was fired, along with pitching coachRick Peterson and first base coachTom Nieto. He and his coaches were replaced by interim managerJerry Manuel and coachesKen Oberkfell,Dan Warthen, andLuis Aguayo.[9] The team's record at the time of the firing was 34–35, which was 6½ games behind the Phillies in the National League East. After 2008, the Mets did not have another winning season until 2015.
After the 2008 season, Randolph was interviewed by the Milwaukee Brewers for their managerial position. Although he was one of the three finalists, the job went toKen Macha, and Randolph was given thebench coach position, which he held until November 2010.[10] According to BrewersGMDoug Melvin, Randolph was asked to be Macha's bench coach because Randolph had experience managing against National League teams, versus Macha's American League experience.
On November 23, 2010, Randolph was named as the final piece toBuck Showalter's coaching staff for the 2011Baltimore Orioles. Randolph assumed the position of bench coach replacingJeff Datz.[11][12] In June 2011, Randolph switched places withJohn Russell, becoming Baltimore's third-base coach. Randolph and the Orioles parted ways after the 2011 season.
On November 26, 2012, it was announced Randolph would be the third base coach in theWorld Baseball Classic forTeam USA.[13]
On February 16, 2015, the Yankees announced that they would honor Randolph with a plaque inMonument Park on June 20, 2015.[14]
On October 21, 2015, Randolph was named as the manager ofTeam USA for the inaugural2015 WBSC Premier12.[15]
In August 2019, he became aUnited States national baseball team coach for the2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament.[16] The team finished fourth in the tournament, and failed to qualify for the2020 Olympics as it finished behindMexico, but will have another opportunity to qualify.[17]
| Team | From | To | Regular season record | Post–season record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | Win % | W | L | Win % | |||
| New York Mets | 2005 | 2008 | 302 | 253 | .544 | 6 | 4 | .600 |
| Total | 302 | 253 | .544 | 6 | 4 | .600 | ||
| Reference:[18] | ||||||||
As of 2008, Randolph resided inFranklin Lakes, New Jersey with his wife Gretchen.[19] He has four children named Taniesha, Chantre, Andre, and Ciara. Tommy John has called him "a devoted family man, a man interested in the community."[4]
Randolph delivered the commencement address toFordham University's 2007 graduating class, of which his daughter Ciara was a member. That same day, he managed the second game in a three-game series against the Yankees.[20]
"I thought he was talking about whacking a couple of my coaches", Randolph said of General ManagerOmar Minaya while talking to reporters outside his home inFranklin Lakes, New Jersey
John, Tommy; Valenti, Dan (1991).TJ: My Twenty-Six Years in Baseball. New York: Bantam.ISBN 0-553-07184-X.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | New York Yankees team captain (withRon Guidry until July 12, 1989) March 4, 1986 to October 2, 1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | New York Yankees third base coach | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | New York Yankees bench coach 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Milwaukee Brewers bench coach 2009–2010 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
