By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
It may seem remarkable that a kid who grew up in Gove, Kansas would eventually play Major League Baseball. But according to Bobby Randall, it’s not quite as unlikely as it seems today.
Former Major Leaguer and Division I coach Bobby Randall will be inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday at Washburn University. [Submitted photo/Kansas Sports Hall of Fame]
When Randall was drafted out of high school by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1966, he wasn’t unique.
“It was a time when small towns played baseball,” Randall said. “We played baseball fall and spring, didn’t have football. So, all those little towns played baseball, while a lot of the big schools didn’t have school baseball.
“The year that I was drafted, Ron Schueler, from a town called Catherine, over by Hays, was drafted. And Bill Russell from Pittsburg was drafted. All three of us small town Kansas kids were drafted that same year.”
Randall eventually reached the major leagues, became a Division I head coach, and is now a Kansas Sports Hall of Famer. With nine other inductees, he will be enshrined in a ceremony at Washburn University on Aug. 2.
Growing up in Gove wasn’t the obstacle it might seem. It was, in fact, a great place to grow up, Randall said.
“In Gove, they would turn the lights on at the baseball field and the whole town would come and sit in their cars around the fence and watch the game,” Randall recalled. “If you got a basehit, they would honk. It was like having 40,000 people at Yankee Stadium. That’s what it felt like to us.
“Baseball was an important part of the culture. It’s changed now. There is no small-town baseball anymore. That is sad.”
Randall said baseball games – pickup or organized – were rare in Gove. He said he never played more than 25 games in a season. Most of his training came from playing catch with his father or throwing the ball against the garage.
“I had no idea (the Dodgers) were going to draft me. I didn’t know anybody had been watching me,” Randall said. “If you’ve got talent, they will find you. There’s umpires, other coaches, people spread the word. Those scouts have their ear to the ground and it’s rare that a stone gets unturned.”
Randall turned down the Dodgers to attend Kansas State.
“I didn’t think I was ready to play professional baseball coming from a town of 300 people. I’d never played on a grass infield,” Randall said. “I just thought ‘I need to go to college.’ I didn’t have any dreams of playing in the major leagues. I wanted to play professionally just because I wanted to keep playing baseball. But I knew that going to college was the wise thing for me to do.
“I was not offered much of a bonus, so it was easy to turn that down. I had a partial scholarship to K-State. I figured, if I’m any good, I can go there and get better, then sign out of college.”
Randall didn’t get much of an opportunity at K-State until his junior season. He made the most of it, batting .390 and earning All-Big Eight honors.
Believing he was finally ready in 1969, Randall accepted another offer to join the Dodgers organization. But despite some solid minor league seasons, he found his path to the big leagues blocked by two other players with connections to Kansas – Russell and Davey Lopes, a product of Washburn University.
It was only when the Dodgers traded Randall to the Minnesota Twins following the 1975 season that he got his chance.
“It’s incredible how God works,” Randall said. “I got pretty close and played pretty well (in the Dodgers system) but I probably wouldn’t have made it if I hadn’t gotten traded to the Twins. I never thought it was going to happen and got a little frustrated. But God was in it all the time.
“It happened to be the same year (the Twins) moved Rod Carew to first base and they had an opening at second. Everything just fell into place.”
Randall debuted in the majors as a 28-year old, when most guys would have given up or been cast aside.
“I was running out of time,” Randall said. “If I hadn’t made it that year, it probably wasn’t going to happen. They didn’t keep older players around. You reached a point where they wanted to give a younger player a chance.
“So much of life is perseverance – showing up every day and hanging in there. It was frustrating not getting an opportunity with the Dodgers even though I had good years in the minor leagues.”
Randall was a solid contributor to good Twins teams for four seasons. At the start of his fifth big league season, at age 32, he found himself a pawn in major league manipulations.
“In spring training, I got released as a player and they asked me to stick around as a coach with the idea that if they needed me, I’d be right there,” Randall said. “I kept working out as a player. I wasn’t really a coach, but I was on the coaching roster.
“(The players) were about ready to go on strike, so the Twins activated me because if the players went on strike they wouldn’t have to pay me, whereas if I was a coach they would have to pay me.”
The strike didn’t materialize in 1980. Randall was an active member of the Twins for three weeks before being released. They brought him back briefly midsummer, but on July 16, 1980 he was released for the final time.
“The Twins did ask me to coach at that time. They wanted me to start a career as a coach in the minors,” Randall said. “But by that time, I had gone back to college to get my Master’s Degree. I knew I wanted to coach in college.
“I didn’t want to pursue the professional coaching life. I wanted a more stable life. Professional baseball is a hard life for a family. The first 10 years we were married, my wife and I moved 30 times.”
Randall eventually became the head coach of the Iowa State baseball team in 1985, where he won 309 games. In 1996, he received an offer to return to his home state to coach the Kansas Jayhawks. He jumped at the opportunity despite his Wildcat pedigree.
“It was an incredible blessing to me because I’m a Kansas kid,” Randall said. “Growing up in the state of Kansas has always meant a lot to me.
“Being able to play at one school and coach at the other meant a lot to me. To be able to come back to KU to coach in Kansas was a great experience. I did lose some K-State fans in the process, but I made some KU friends.”
When he left the University of Kansas in 2002, Randall wasn’t done making an impact in the lives of college students. He served as an assistant coach to the Manhattan Christian College baseball team while teaching economics and statistics. Since retiring from teaching seven years ago, the 77-year-old devotes his time to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and to his church in Manhattan.
On Aug. 2, Randall will add Hall of Famer to his resume. Tickets for the ceremony and lunch at the Washburn University Union Ballroom at 1700 SW College Ave. are available online at kshof.org.
“Thjs is such an incredible blessing,” Randall said. “I was so surprised. It never occurred to me that I would be in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. It’s so humbling. I knew about all the people who are in it and never felt I deserved it.
“As a Kansas kid, growing up we studied Kansas history, including a lot of the sports heroes. It’s so significant to be recognized in your home state because it’s the place that I love.”
