William Talton "Sonny" Randall (August 5, 1915 - February 13, 2013) was an American

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

player during the 1940s. Randall played during the segregated era when black baseball players were not allowed to play in either

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), ...

or any of its minor league affiliates.Langer, Emily (February 22, 2013) "William T. Randall, 97, Outfielder for premier D.C team in Negro leagues" ''The Washington Post'', page B

/ref> Randall was born in Phoebus, Virginia, in 1915. As a young man, he moved with his family to Washington, D.C. in the early 1920s and subsequently dropped out of school to support his family during the depression. During the 1930s, Randall played on Washington D.C area sandlot and semi-pro teams to include the Washington Indians, Black Sox, and Aztecs.Kelley, Brent P. (2003) ''I Will Never Forget: Interviews With 39 Former Negro League Players''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland Press, pages 147-150 During the war years, Randall played on the U.S. Navy's Great Lakes Training Center's baseball team, the "Blue Jackets."Lester, Larry, et al., (2000) ''Black Baseball in Chicago''. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, page 97 When he returned home, Randall would occasionally play for the Washington Homestead Grays but because he did not want to endure the hardships of travel that were common in the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

, Randall declined opportunities to play professionally. As a result, almost all of Randall's time with the Grays was during their home games. Randall did occasionally travel with the semi-pro teams he played for and experienced racial discrimination and racial taunts from fans.

Teams were segregated and so were the towns. The players couldn't eat in any of the restaurants because they were for whites only. There were no black hotels ... and the players often had to change into their uniforms on the bus or even in the woods. During the Navy years we played a team from Waukegan, Illinois. A player from the all-white team called one of the Negro players the "n" word and the two teams almost got into a fight. After the incident, the coach of the Navy team, who was white, talked to both sides. When we went back to play that team a couple of months later, the problem had been resolved and there was no incident.

During Randall's time as a ball player, he was also a federal employee, working for the Navy and NASA for 31 years. After his retirement from federal service, Randall worked as a chauffeur for

U.S. Senators The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Milton Young Milton Ruben Young (December 6, 1897 – May 31, 1983) was an American politician, most notable for representing North Dakota in the United States Senate from 1945 until 1981. At the time of his retirement, he was the most senior Republican in the ...

Howard Baker Howard Henry Baker Jr. (November 15, 1925 June 26, 2014) was an American politician and diplomat who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1967 to 1985. During his tenure, he rose to the rank of Senate Minority Leader and then ...

, and Ted Stevens as well as for various Washington D.C. area law firms. Randall permanently retired in 2001 after working for more than 70 years. Randall was a longtime resident of Temple Hills,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, where he lived with his wife of 55 years, Ann Turner Randall, of Clarksville, Maryland. Randall died on February 13, 2013, after suffering complications from a stroke.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, William T. 1915 births 2013 deaths Baseball players from Hampton, Virginia African-American baseball players Homestead Grays players People from Elizabeth City County, Virginia People from Temple Hills, Maryland Sportspeople from Prince George's County, Maryland Baseball players from Washington, D.C. 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people