Willie Randolph

William Larry Randolph (born July 6, 1954) is an American former professional baseball second baseman, coach, and manager.

Randolph grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Samuel J. Tilden High School, where he was a star athlete and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 7th round of the 1972 draft.

During an 18-year career in Major League Baseball (MLB), he played from 1975 to 1992 for six different teams, most notably the New York Yankees with whom he won back-to-back world titles against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He made his major league debut in 1975, and was, at age 21, the sixth-youngest player in the National League.

He was traded with Dock Ellis and Ken Brett from the Pirates to the Yankees for Doc Medich on December 11, 1975.

He was the Yankees' starting second baseman on the 1977 and 1978 World Series Championship teams.

In 1980 Randolph led the league in walks (119) and was second in the AL in on-base percentage (.427), eighth in stolen bases (30) and ninth in runs (99), and won the Silver 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 the 1980 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 of Royals Stadium.

Though the ball bounced to Willie Wilson, third base coach Mike Ferraro waved Randolph home.

Wilson overthrew U L Washington, the cut-off man, but George Brett was in position behind him to catch the ball, then throw to Darrell Porter, who tagged out Randolph in a slide.

TV cameras captured a furious George 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.

Randolph spent 13 of his 18 seasons as a player with the Yankees and was co-captain of the Yankees with Ron Guidry from 1986 to 1988.

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 a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He later played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1989–90), Oakland Athletics (1990), and Milwaukee Brewers (1991), finishing his career with the New York Mets in 1992.

He was selected to six All-Star teams over his career.

As a career number 2 hitter in the order, he made use of his skills as bunter and a patient hitter who drew more than 80 walks seven times.

Randolph was also an outstanding defensive player, known especially for his ability to turn the double play.

However, he never received the Gold Glove Award, which was perennially awarded to his equally sure-handed and more acrobatic and wide-ranging contemporaries: Frank White of the Kansas City Royals and Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers.

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 for Stan Javier.

Later that year, Randolph and the A's won the American League pennant, but were swept by the NL-champion Cincinnati 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 future Jeff Kent moved to make his start at shortstop to allow Randolph to play his final game at second base.

Tommy John, Randolph's teammate with the Yankees, called him the "stabilizing influence" and "the club's quiet leader".

"You couldn't believe how good Willie was until you were on the same team and saw him play every day," John said.

Randolph was a Yankees base and bench coach for 11 seasons, interviewing intermittently for managing jobs with other teams.

He later served as manager of the New York Mets from 2005 to June 2008, leading the Mets to a league-best record and the National League Championship Series in 2006.

He has joined ESPN as a post-season baseball analyst, beginning in September 2013.

Mainly, he appeared on Baseball 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 in putouts (4,859), seventh in assists (6,336), eighth in total chances (11,429), and third in double plays (1,547).

Upon retiring as a player, he joined the Yankees as a coach for 11 years.