Lenny Randle, ‘Most Interesting’ Major Leaguer, Is Dead at 75

Baseball|Lenny Randle, ‘Most Interesting’ Major Leaguer, Is Dead at 75

Lenny Randle, a versatile major league ballplayer whose career was defined by unusual events — he once blew a ground ball into foul territory, battered his manager on another occasion and was at bat for the Mets when the power went out in New York City — died on Sunday at his home in Murrieta, Calif. He was 75.

His wife, Linda Randle, confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause.

Randle was playing third base for the Seattle Mariners on May 27, 1981, at the Kingdome in Seattle, when Amos Otis of the Kansas City Royals tapped a ground ball that trickled toward third. As it continued to roll in fair territory, on artificial turf, Randle dropped to his hands and knees and blew on the ball, huffing and puffing until it veered foul. The home plate umpire, Larry McCoy, called it a foul ball.

But Jim Frey, the Royals’ manager, lodged a protest with the umpires, and McCoy reversed his call, sending Otis to first base.

Randle insisted that he had only been talking to the ball.

“I said, ‘Please go foul, go foul,’” he said afterward. “I did not blow on it. I just used the power of suggestion.”

By then, Randle was near the end of a peripatetic career, which had begun in 1971 with the Washington Senators. (He remained with the team when it moved to Texas, becoming the Texas Rangers.) He also played for the Mets and the Yankees as well as the Chicago Cubs. He was known for his speed and reliability, whether playing at second base, third base, shortstop or center field. A switch-hitter, he had a career batting average of .257, with 27 home runs and 322 runs batted in.