Bob Randall

[Al from SoDak]

Robert Lee Randall was born June 10, 1948, in Norton, Kansas, a small town in north central Kansas almost 300 miles west of Lawrence and the University of Kansas. He graduated from nearby Gove, Kansas high school. After high school, Randall attended and graduated from Kansas State University.

The right-handed hitting Randall was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers three different times; 55th round in 1966, 7th round in 1968, and 2nd round in 1969. He played well in the minor leagues, three times leading his league in hits. The Dodgers traded Randall after the 1975 season to Twins for Danny Walton.

The trade, coupled with new manager Gene Mauch’s decision to move incumbent second baseman, Rod Carew, to first base created an opportunity for Randall. His first year was his best season and this was when he hit his first and only career home run. That homer came in the third inning of a June 23rd loss against the Chicago White Sox, the second game of a double header. The pitcher was the unremarkable Chris Knapp. Throughout his Twins career, Randall was a hustling, scrappy player. He played significant time immediately in that first season of 1976, then filled a platoon role with the left-handed hitting Rob Wilfong in 1977 and 1978. In 1979 he had limited action playing in only 80 games and getting 199 at bats. In a rare sequence of events in 1980, Randall was released at the end of spring training and was made a coach. But on May 16 he resigned with the Twins, proceeded to get into five games, went 3 for 15, and was released again. The Twins resigned Randall again on June 18, but he did not appear in a game and was released for the final time on July 16, 1980.

For his career, Randall batted .257/.310/.311. He had that lone home run and 91 runs batted in. His OPS+ was 74. His best season was 1976 was less than stellar, then he was unable to replicate that in the following four seasons. His career WAR was 3.8.

In 1981, Randall was hired as an assistant baseball coach at Iowa State University. The head coach at that time was Larry Corrigan who was a former Twins minor leaguer, later a scout, then ultimately the scouting director. When Corrigan left Iowa State after 1984, Randall was promoted to head coach where he served 11 seasons until 1995 compiling a middling record of 309-311. After the 1995 college baseball season, his home state of Kansas came calling. There is an excellent article in the Iowa State Daily about Randall’s tenure in Ames and how it ended. It sounds like he was a low-paid, quality coach, who simply moved on so he could be closer to home, continue doing what he loved, and work for a better funded athletic department. He was hired as head baseball coach at Kansas University where he remained for seven seasons until 2002. His record was 166-213.

Bob Randall had little power (he hit only one home run as a Twin), but he had enough ability and hustle to play Major League Baseball for five seasons. He then went on to an even more impressive college coaching career where shaped and mentored countless athletes. I’m sure that is his biggest legacy.

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