Willie Randolph goes up and over California's Brian Downing to turn a double play, exactly 38 years ago today (May 24, 1987). It was a wild game that saw the Yankees lead by scores of 5-0 and 8-2, but it was 8-7 in the bottom of the ninth, and Dave Righetti blew the save, allowing a double to Pettis and a single to Joyner to tie the game, then walked Brian Downing to put two men on base with nobody out. However he induced Doug DeCinces to hit into the double play you see here, then struck out Devon White to take the game to the 10th. There it was Randolph's turn to be the hero, singling Wayne Tolleson home to give the Yankees the lead again, and scoring an insurance run on Gary Ward's single. Righetti then pitched a 1-2-3 10th inning to nail down a 10-8 victory.
Terry Randolph played for the Green Bay Packers in 1977 and 1978, mostly on special teams. The Randolphs, who moved from South Carolina to Brownsville, Brooklyn shortly after Willie was born, were some of the first residents of the Tilden Housing Projects there. It was at Tilden that Willie became a star at stickball and baseball. He was inducted in the Stickball Hall of Fame in 2004. Here is a video of Willie and Terry returning to the old neighborhood in 2018.
Nice recap on the Randolph, where the Angels were involved.
ReplyDeleteNice detective work. Pretty cool that he was the hero of the game featured in that photo.
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