SECOND TO NONE
Old teammates to see Yanks honor Randolph
THE TOUGH old Yankees who worked alongside and won with Willie Randolph are expecting an emotional evening Saturday when their superlative second baseman is honored with a plaque in Monument Park.
Will the player who was so gritty that one of his nicknames was “Hard Willie,” according to Brian Doyle, be able to hold back tears?
“I’m not sure anyone will,” says Bucky Dent.
“I can’t even imagine being in his shoes, being a New Yorker, through and through, and having this honor,” adds Rich (Goose) Gossage. “Oh, my God. It’s going to be a day he won’t soon forget. “People loved him.” The ceremony honoring Randolph, the former Yankee cocaptain, will be a highlight of the Yanks’ 69th Old Timers’ Day at the Stadium. Randolph, who turns 61 next month, wore pinstripes from 1976-88 and also spent 11 years as a Yankee coach. All told, he’s got six World Series rings — two as a player (1977 and 1978) and four from coaching (1996, 1998-2000).
Randolph, who grew up in Brooklyn to become a famous Yankee and, later, the Mets’ manager, made six All-Star teams. His career on-base percentage of .373 would make him highly coveted today; Randolph took walks when doing so wasn’t as cool as it is now.
Conversations with Randolph’s former Yankee teammates always seem to come back to common elements in his game: “He was so consistent, so professional,” Doyle says.
“Willie was all about winning. He was Hard Willie. He did everything full-speed and he did everything 100%.”
There were light moments, too. Dent recalls Randolph was as good with a zinger as anyone on a raucous club. “Those teams back then, we fed off that kind of stuff, on the bus, around the batting cage, guys coming back at each other,” Dent says. “It was fun to be around the personalities.”
Randolph and Mickey Rivers often teased each other about whether Rivers properly flashed Randolph a sign from first if he was going to steal second. “He’d back out of the box like he didn’t see it,” Rivers says, laughing. “I’d tell him, ‘You can swing, as long as you get me over (to second).’ ”
One time Randolph and his family visited Gossage in Colorado. “He’s been out to my place, hunting,” Gossage says. The kid from Brownsville was “a fish out of water” in the woods, Gossage says.
“He got a small mule deer,” Gossage adds, chuckling. “He thinks I got it, but he’s the one who hit it. That was back when I was still with the Yanks. We’ve remained great friends ever since we met.”
With Randolph being honored, his old mates hope folks remember how good of a player he was. Randolph is third on the Yankees’ alltime steals list with 251 and had 2,210 career hits in 2,202 games for the Yanks, Dodgers, Mets, Pirates, A’s and Brewers. Doyle says Randolph was as good at “insideout hitting a ball to right field as a certain famous shortstop.” That’d be Derek Jeter. Both Dent and Gossage declare, “He’s the best second baseman I ever played with.”
Dent and Randolph, a strong double-play combination, rarely had to talk about it. “We just had that knack,” Dent says. “When you play with someone, you know what they’re going to do. Willie could really turn the double play and he had a shortstop's arm at second.
Randolph often listened closely when former Yankees came around, trying to soak up as much baseball as possible, Rivers says. “Scooter (Phil Rizzuto), Mantle, Yogi, Whitey Ford, all those guys, they were a part of that run for us,” Rivers says. “Willie talked to guys because he wanted to be the best second baseman and that’s how you do it, talk to someone who’s been successful. Ain’t no question that’s dumb — just ask. Things that fit for you, keep.”
Randolph played on some turbulent teams during the Yanks’ “Bronx Zoo” days with outsized personalities such as George Steinbrenner, Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin lighting up tabloid headlines. Randolph stayed out of it, Gossage says.
“He just didn’t go there,” Gossage recalls. “He was there to play baseball. His nose was to the grindstone, and he was never part of those distractions. It was a crazy time. There was never a dull moment, but Willie wasn’t one of those guys who tooted his own horn. He let his playing do the talking.”
Randolph himself will talk Saturday when he’s honored, and his old teammates can’t wait. Doyle, who is battling Parkinson’s disease, vowed to his old friend that he’d be there. “I’m not going to miss his day,” Doyle says.
“It means a lot to me to be there.”