Robert Lee Randall (born June 10, 1948) is an American former

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

second baseman and

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He played five seasons in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

from until , all for the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

. The native of Gove, Kansas threw and batted

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to it being stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply less subjecti ...

and was listed as tall and . He graduated from Gove High School and

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Professional playing career

Randall was selected by the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

in three separate drafts: 1966, 1968, and finally the 2nd round in 1969, after which he signed. For the next five and a half years, he played 744 games in the Dodgers' farm system and batted over .300 four times, but was never promoted to the major league level. Then, on December 23, 1975, he got his first break when he was traded to the Twins in exchange for reserve outfielder

Danny Walton Daniel James Walton (July 14, 1947 – August 9, 2017) was an American Major League Baseball outfielder. Walton attended Bishop Amat Memorial High School, and was selected in the 10th round (192nd overall) of the 1965 MLB draft by the Houston As ...

. Randall's second, perhaps more important, break was Minnesota

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Gene Mauch's decision to move future

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...

to first base, opening up second base for Randall, who beat out

Jerry Terrell Jerry Wayne Terrell (born July 13, 1946) is an American former professional baseball player. The former infielder from Elysian, Minnesota, attended Minnesota State University, Mankato and played in the Major Leagues for the Minnesota Twins (1973� ...

for the job in

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

. Randall capitalized on the opportunity, batting .267 in 153 games in 1976 while finishing fourth in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

sacrifice hit In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, and ...

s. That turned out to be the high mark of Randall's career. He spent the next two seasons splitting time at second base with

Rob Wilfong Robert Donald Wilfong (born September 1, 1953) is an American professional baseball scout (sports), scout and a former Major League Baseball second baseman for the Minnesota Twins (1977–1982), Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California Angels (19 ...

, losing the starting job to the lefty-hitting Wilfong entirely in 1979. The following spring, he was released by the Twins and briefly served as a

, then was restored to the active playing roster in May. He appeared in just five games in the majors in , going 3-for-15, before being released, and Randall retired soon afterwards. For his MLB career, he collected 341 hits, including 50 doubles, nine triples, and one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, a solo blow hit June 23, 1976, against Chris Knapp of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

Metropolitan Stadium Metropolitan Stadium (often referred to as "the Met", "Met Stadium", or now "the Old Met" to distinguish from the Metrodome) was an outdoor sports stadium in the north central United States, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneap ...

. Randall batted .257 lifetime with 91

runs batted in A run batted in (RBI; plural RBIs ) is a statistic in baseball and softball that credits a batter for making a play that allows a run to be scored (except in certain situations such as when an error is made on the play). For example, if the bat ...

College baseball coach

Following Randall's major league career, he turned to the college coaching ranks. He was head baseball coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

from to 1995, going 309–311–1 before leaving to be head coach at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

from until 2002, going 166–213.http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/kan/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/09mediaguide-section8.pdf He is currently the assistant baseball coach and a professor of economics at

Manhattan Christian College Manhattan Christian College (MCC) is a private Christian college in Manhattan, Kansas. It was founded in 1927 as Christian Workers University. The institution's name was changed to Manhattan Bible College in 1930 and Manhattan Christian Colle ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, Bob 1948 births Living people Albuquerque Dodgers players Albuquerque Dukes players Arizona Instructional League Dodgers players Bakersfield Dodgers players Baseball coaches from Kansas Baseball players from Kansas Iowa State Cyclones baseball coaches Kansas Jayhawks baseball coaches Kansas State Wildcats baseball players Major League Baseball second basemen Minnesota Twins coaches Minnesota Twins players Ogden Dodgers players People from Norton, Kansas Spokane Indians players Toledo Mud Hens players Waterbury Dodgers players