Willie Randolph

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Willie Larry Randolph (born July 6, 1954 in Holly Hill, South Carolina, but grew up in New York City), is the current manager of the New York Mets and was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland Athletics, Milwaukee Brewers and finished his career with the New York Mets between 1975 and 1992. Randolph was selected to 6 All Star games over his career. He was known as a top lead-off man, a skilled bunter, and a patient hitter who drew over 80 walks 7 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, which was perennially awarded to his more acrobatic contemporaries Frank White and Lou Whitaker. He was the starting second baseman for the New York Yankees from 1976-1988 and was a member of the 1977 and 1978 World Championship teams.

Randolph was a coach for the New York Yankees for 11 seasons, interviewing intermittently for managing jobs with other teams. In 2004, Randolph was named the manager for the Mets beginning with the 2005 season, despite never having managed before at any level of baseball. Randolph earned his first win as a manager on April 10, 2005 in a 6-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. The win halted a five game losing streak to start the 2005 season. He then guided the Mets to five straight 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 over .500 since 2001, as 12 games better than the prior season. That record got them a tie for third place in the National League East.

In 2006 he managed the Mets to a league-best 97-65 record and the NL East title (the team's first division championship since 1988), and came within one game of reaching the World Series, losing the seventh game NLCS. Randolph is the first manager in big-league history to have his team's record improve by at least 12 games in each of his first two seasons (seasons following strike-shortened seasons are not included). He came in second place in the 2006 NL Manager of the Year voting, losing to Florida Marlins manager Joe Girardi. Randolph is reportedly talking with the Mets about a contract extension thanks to his extremely successful season. [1]

[edit] Highlights

Six-time All-Star (1976-77, 1980-81, 1987, 1989)
Led the American League in walks during the 1980 season with 119 walks.
Is 180-144 in 2 years as head coach with the Mets and has a .556 Winning Percentage

[edit] Trivia

Randolph was Fred Kuhaulua's first major league strikeout victim. {Anaheim Stadium -- August 2, 1977}
Randolph is the sixth player to play for and then later manage the Mets. Gil Hodges, Yogi Berra, Joe Torre, Bud Harrelson and Bobby Valentine are the others. Of the Mets 14 managers (not counting interim managers), six of them had played for the team.
September 16, 1975: Rennie Stennett topped the 7-for-7 mark as Pittsburgh routed the Cubs 22-0. Curiously, Stennett didn't complete his record game. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh sent Randolph in as a pinch runner for him after Stennett's seventh hit.