Lenny Randle, a flexible main league ballplayer whose profession was outlined by uncommon occasions — he as soon as blew a floor ball into foul territory, battered his supervisor on one other event and was at bat for the Mets when the facility went out in New York Metropolis — died on Sunday at his dwelling in Murrieta, Calif. He was 75.
His spouse, Linda Randle, confirmed the loss of life however didn’t cite a selected trigger.
Randle was taking part in third base for the Seattle Mariners on Could 27, 1981, on the Kingdome in Seattle, when Amos Otis of the Kansas Metropolis Royals tapped a floor ball that trickled towards third. Because it continued to roll in truthful territory, on synthetic turf, Randle dropped to his palms and knees and blew on the ball, huffing and puffing till it veered foul. The house plate umpire, Larry McCoy, referred to as it a foul ball.
However Jim Frey, the Royals’ supervisor, lodged a protest with the umpires, and McCoy reversed his name, sending Otis to first base.
Randle insisted that he had solely been speaking to the ball.
“I mentioned, ‘Please go foul, go foul,’” he mentioned afterward. “I didn’t blow on it. I simply used the facility of suggestion.”
By then, Randle was close to the top of a peripatetic profession, which had begun in 1971 with the Washington Senators. (He remained with the crew when it moved to Texas, changing into the Texas Rangers.) He additionally performed for the Mets and the Yankees in addition to the Chicago Cubs. He was recognized for his pace and reliability, whether or not taking part in at second base, third base, shortstop or middle area. A switch-hitter, he had a profession batting common of .257, with 27 dwelling runs and 322 runs batted in.
He had his greatest season in 1977, with the Mets, with a batting common of .304, 5 dwelling runs, 27 runs batted in and 33 stolen bases. However in baseball lore these statistics have been, in additional methods than one, overshadowed by the good New York Metropolis blackout that 12 months.
On July 13, the Mets have been trailing the Cubs, 2-1, within the backside of the sixth inning at Shea Stadium when Randle got here to the plate. The Cubs pitcher Ray Burris went into his windup when, all of the sudden, as if a large swap had been flicked off, the lights went out.
“I assumed, ‘God, I’m gone,’” Randle instructed The New York Instances. “I assumed for certain He was calling me. I assumed it was my final at-bat.”
Ten years later, he instructed Newsday: “I couldn’t determine whether or not he threw the ball or not, so I simply swung. Then I didn’t know whether or not I hit the ball or not, so I took off.” When he pulled into second base, he added, the Cubs’ Manny Trillo “was ready for me to hug and kiss him.”
In 2015, Rolling Stone journal referred to as Randle baseball’s model of the “most fascinating man on the planet.” A number of months later, the MLB Community premiered the documentary “Lenny Randle: The Most Fascinating Man in Baseball.”
Leonard Schenoff Randle was born on Feb. 12, 1949, in Lengthy Seashore, Calif., and grew up in close by Compton. His father, Isaac, was a longshoreman, and his mom, Ethel Lee (Smith) Randle, labored within the garment business.
After taking part in baseball and soccer at Centennial Excessive College in Compton, Randle went to Arizona State College, the place he was a part of the Solar Devils’ 1969 N.C.A.A. championship. He additionally performed varsity soccer. He was chosen tenth total, by the Senators, within the secondary section of the Main League Baseball draft in 1970. He graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in 1973.
Randle continued to be in the midst of weird doings. In 1974, he was at bat for the Rangers when the Cleveland Indians’ pitcher Milt Wilcox threw the ball behind him, practically hanging Randle. Then, after laying down a drag bunt alongside the primary bottom line, Randle retaliated, intentionally working off the bottom path to knock Wilcox down, sparking a brawl.
And through spring coaching with the Rangers in 1977, Randle misplaced the beginning second base job to Bump Wills and have become so upset that he punched the crew’s supervisor, Frank Lucchesi, thrice, inflicting a triple fracture to his proper cheekbone and different accidents.
“I by no means thought it could come to this,” Randle mentioned afterward. “I’m simply not that type of individual.”
He was suspended for 30 days and fined $10,000 by the league. In courtroom 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 have been getting into an particularly dismal section of their historical past: They might win 64 video games that 12 months and end in final place within the Nationwide League East. However Randle excelled that 12 months. On July 9, when the Mets performed the Montreal Expos, he had hits in 13 of his final 14 video games and was batting .310.
Throughout one recreation he made two diving catches, one saving a run. Then, within the backside of the seventeenth inning, he crashed a two-run dwelling run off Will McEnaney into the left area bullpen at Shea to win the sport.
After struggling in 1978, Randle was launched by the Mets throughout spring coaching the subsequent 12 months. He performed within the minor leagues within the San Francisco Giants’ and Pittsburgh Pirates’ programs earlier than the Yankees acquired him on Aug. 3, 1979, the day after Thurman Munson, their All-Star catcher, died within the crash of an airplane he was piloting.
Randle performed sparingly for the Yankees however had a robust season for the Cubs in 1980. He completed his M.L.B. profession with Seattle in 1982.
Along with his spouse, whom he had met in elementary college when she was Linda Bradley, Mr. Randle is survived by their sons Bradley, Kumasi and Ahmad; three grandchildren; 4 sisters, Becky Osborne, Ruthie Downs, Barbara Edney and Theresa Value; and two brothers, Ronald Randle and Clyde Williams.
Randle continued taking part in baseball for a number of years within the Italian Baseball League, or Serie A1. He was the primary former main leaguer to play professionally in Italy and led the league in batting with a .477 common in 1983 taking part in for the Nettuno crew, which he later managed. Followers nicknamed him “Cappuccino” for his “hard-hustling play, charismatic swagger and impish humorousness,” in keeping with Rolling Stone.
He additionally ran a baseball academy and performed tutorial clinics, spoke 5 languages, carried out stand-up comedy and recorded music along with his band, Ballplayers.
“He was just like the wind that may by no means be harnessed,” Ms. Randle mentioned in an interview. “He was by no means upset, mad or imply, and all the time had one thing constructive to offer to you.”