"Willie keeps getting better all the time.
'He knows how to play the game and he wants to win,' says ex-Yankee Gene Michael. A serious young man who does charitable work without fanfare or publicity, Willie is a local product born in Holly Hills, South Carolina, but raised in Brooklyn. He signed with the Pirates but was traded to the Yankees, and figures to be a fixture at second base for years.
His quick hands make him a whiz at turning the double play. Knee problems curtailed his running game, but he still stole 13 bases in 19 attempts.
He homered off Don Sutton in the '77 World Series opener."
-Phil Pepe, The Complete Handbook of Baseball, 1978 Edition
"Willie Randolph had a tough act to follow in 1977. That act was all his, as 1976 was an exceptional rookie season. In that year, he won the Dawson Award as the top Yankee rookie in spring training camp, was the first rookie ever listed on the All-Star ballot, and made the Topps Rookie All-Star team. Tough act indeed!
Hard as it may seem to believe, Willie did top that rookie season. He improved in just about every offensive and defensive category and was voted to the All-Star team in July. He played all nine innings of that Yankee Stadium All-Star Game and set a record for assists by a second baseman. He was also named to three postseason All-Star teams.
With all his accomplishments, it seems as if Willie Randolph has been a ten-year fixture as the Yankee second baseman. But the truth is he won't turn 24 until July, and this is just his third big league season. It would seem as if young Willie has quite a future in this game."
-The New York Yankees Official 1978 Yearbook
"Willie followed up a good rookie year in 1976 with a strong second season in 1977. In '76 he was the first rookie ever listed on the All-Star ballot; he made the team but was replaced due to injury. Willie was voted to the team as a starter in '77 and played all nine innings and set a record for most assists by a second baseman with six. He was also voted to the Associated Press, UPI and Sporting News All-Star teams. Willie was named to the Topps Rookie All-Star team in 1976 and was also given the James P. Dawson Award as the outstanding rookie in the Yankee spring training camp. Quite a list of accomplishments for a player who's only been in the big leagues two years - and both years he played on championship clubs.
Randolph played a solid second base all year, teaming with Bucky Dent to give the Yanks one of the best young double-play combos in baseball. Willie was second in putouts, third in assists, second in total chances and second in double plays.
He had two nine-game hitting streaks last year. His best effort was a 4-for-4 day against the Orioles. He has good speed, stealing in 13 of 19 attempts last year, and had 11 triples, tying him for sixth in the league. After hitting only one home run in his rookie year, Willie had four in '77. He was tough in the clutch last year, batting .305 with men on base.
The Pirates drafted Willie seventh in June 1972, and in 1975 he was leading the International League in hitting, at Charleston, when the Pirates called him up. He didn't play much behind Rennie Stennett, but scouts knew this was a top prospect, and he was the key man the Yankees sought in the trade which brought him to New York.
Willie played winter ball in Venezuela in 1975. In the 1976 off-season he had minor surgery on the outside of his right knee and also had a right shoulder injury in '76, but neither really hampered his play. He stayed pretty healthy in 1977, although he missed some games with a bruised right thumb and a sore right knee.
Although born in South Carolina, Willie and his family moved to the Brownsville section of Brooklyn when he was just a baby. He played stickball in the streets and fields of Canarsie, and baseball at Tilden High School. He has three brothers and a sister, and his brother Terry was drafted in the 11th round by the Green Bay Packers."
-New York Yankees 1978 Media Guide
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