Talk:Randy Brown
From BR Bullpen
Can anybody double check this? My copy of Total Baseball (1999) lists him as living. So do baseball cube and baseball almanac. -Scott
BR lists no death date either. --Jeff 00:18, 11 July 2007 (EDT)
Moved from main page:
Randy Brown was my roommate in pro ball for 3 years, '67-69, and had to be one of the funniest and craziest guys ever to play the game. He was an intense player on the field but never realized his potential as a catcher because of an injured shoulder.
R.B. used to tell everybody he had the quickest bat in pro ball and when he'd get up to the plate, he'd purposely sit on some hard throwers fast ball and hook it foul over the first base dugout and step out and look into our dugout and mouth the words silently, "quickest bat in pro ball" and we'd all get hysterical.
Anybody who played against him or with him knew he had a horrible temper and wasn't afraid to mix it up though at his size, he was pretty much out sized by everyone. I remember when we were playing at Appleton one hot, sticky night in '67, on a play at the plate, the ball and big Carlos May arrived at the same time and Randy didn't try to block the plate but was in the way and Carlos smacked him all the way to the backstop about 35 feet or so without the ball, of course. We howled with laughter at that. He looked like he was falling down some stairs.
He was a clothes horse and dressed like he was still back at the KA house at Florida State...had an alligator watch band, gator belt, gator wallet and Bass weejuns with no socks...I'm sure any of you who read this will remember that. Our manager, Del Rice, loved Randy and they loved the same poison, Crown Royale, too. Or when he got low on dough, Seven and Seven, and he smoked Newports.
When we used to play in Shreveport(Dusty Baker's first year), we'd stay out all night in Bossier City, "runnin' the beef", as Randy put it. Most likely, the next day we'd wake up and walk out of our hotel, The Captain Shreve, and go several blocks to Monsuiers(sp)which was an old package store that served some great fresh oysters and unbelievable chicken and sausage gumbo. We'd nurse our heads back to health in there.
I could probably write a book about this guy and a lot of stuff we did together wasn't too legal but then we never got caught...I know that when Randy played in the bigs for just that brief time, Fregosi and all the other carousers made sure he got some fun out of it.
This is the first I've heard of his death so this is sort of a eulogy to him. The last time I saw him was in Orlando in '75 and I was with the Columbus Astros and Randy drove over to Cocoa Beach, picked me up in some hot Trans Am(dual exhaust) and drove me back to his apartment. We went on the Beeline Toll Road and you guys that knew the nut will appreciate this...Randy was drinking a Bud road kit and we pull up to the toll gate and he goes, "Watch this, Pinky" drives up to the opening to drop the coins, fakes like he's throwing in the exact change, the big arm lifted up and he floored it with some alarms going off and he's laughing his wild laugh and he looks over at me out of the corner of his eye and says in a low voice, "You gotta beat the system"...something I think he read in a Kurt Vonnegut novel... Now, RB was a good hitter and used a K48(Yaz bat)and I think an R43(Kaline?)and with those short, muscular arms could drive a ball and had surprising power to left center(not going that way but just a little late on a fast ball)and he could get up the line, swearing all the way if he hit a ground ball. Funniest thing I ever saw him do was we were walking down the street in San Antonio looking for a place to eat lunch and that town ain't exactly the safest place in America. One cop(probably about 50 years old)was on the street corner probably walking his beat and Randy winked at me and said, "Watch this, Pink" and stuck his finger in this cop's back and said, "Stick 'em up!" Oh, my God, I can still see it right now...this cop jumped about 2 feet and turned around and there's Randy laughing and asking him directions to a cafeteria like it's big joke. After the guy composed himself he lectured RB for about 5 minutes(who was acting like he was listening and kept saying, "Come on, it was just a joke" and I was just shaking my head, trying not to laugh or grin...he would do anything, I think, just for a laugh.
Well, ol' RB, you were a crazy nut but a great athlete and knowing you, you and Jesus are playing a game of "pluck" for money or and/drinks up there in heaven and you're still grinnin'...Mike Floyd, July 10. 2007
