Former New York Yankee Willie Randolph acknowledges the crowd at Yankee Stadium. Photo Credit: NY Daily News

Former New York Yankees player and former New York Mets manager, Willie Randolph checks in with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on episode #55 of Scoop B Radio. Press Play below to listen! 

Yesterday Joe Girardi and the Yankees parted ways. The narrative shifted from the Yanks almost making it to the World Series to goodbye to Joe Girardi.

Immediately, I started thinking: well, who would be next as skipper.

Willie Randolph came to mind because, well, he’s from Brooklyn, he managed the Mets and well, he played for the Yankees and was very successful.

I penned the article in my column at RESPECT Magazine yesterday and to my surprise and honor, it was mentioned on the Michael Kay Show.

Also check out my rebuttal on Scoop B Radio

RESPECT Magazine Managing Editor & Columnist Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson weighs in on the New York Yankees potentially hiring Willie Randolph

While mentioning the article, Don La Greca, an admitted New York Mets fan also said a few things that didn’t sit well with me about the notion of why the Yankees would not hire Randolph:

“Change your thinking.”

“Get your old school thinking out. It’s a new world. Willie Randolph does not have a managerial job because he wants to manage by his gut, he doesn’t want to go by the analytics.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m 6’5 and built like Charles Barkley and when it comes to food, you’re going to trust me or Charles Barkley’s gut when it comes to the most tasteful foods to eat on a road trip.

By the way, if you’re in New York and want Italian, head to Carmine’s and if you want southern head uptown to Harlem and go to Amy Ruth’s.

But I digress.

How am I wrong? I would hire Willie in a second. The question is would the Yankees? The answer is no. They want a middle manager. https://t.co/T2TUuexQU7

— Don La Greca (@DonLagreca) October 27, 2017

Albert Einstein once said: “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Willie Randolph standing in front of his Yankees Monument Park plaque. Photo Credit: New York Daily News

As to the point of changing your way of thinking, I take that and raise you this: before taking over as Yankees manager in 2008, Joe Girardi had a 78-84 managerial record with the Florida Marlins.

Two years later he went 89-73 as Yankees skipper and went on to have a tremendous career, even guiding the Bronx Bombers in winning number 27 in 2009, a magical year.

Yeah, perhaps the Yankees changing their way of thinking, in fact would be a grand idea. The Yankees hiring someone with a track record would make sense.

Let’s see:

• 302-253 record managing the Mets.
• Guiding the Mets to being one pitch away from appearing in the World Series.
• Turning the organization around from being a second tier team and winning their division.

Being fired after a rough start and then saying the right things to make it right, too. That’s signs of a leader with humility.

“I got fired in a tough spot,” Willie Randolph told me on Scoop B Radio. “We are hired to be fired and I understand that I was successful and I did a good job and I want to continue.”

Then telling the world that he’d like an opportunity to make it right with another team? That’s bold. 

“I would love the opportunity, God willing,” Randolph also said on Scoop B Radio.

Randolph then added:

“I am prepared and ready for it. But right now, it’s been a little bit frustrating that I haven’t had the opportunity yet. But I am going to stay positive and I am going to stay strong and like I said, stay prepared so if the phone does ring; I will  be ready to take on the next challenge.”

A former Yankee with more of a winning record than Girardi did when he started with the Yankees? Then you add him being in Queens managing the Mets? He’s also from Brooklyn.

How more New York storybook can that be?

Oh and by the way: I also don’t buy the whole Yankees wanting a middle manager, crap!

I also don’t buy characterization such as:

• Willie is “old school.”
• The game has “passed him by.”
• We need an “analytics guy”
• We don’t need someone who “manages from the gut.”

That’s all coded language and I will leave that there for the very intelligent to dissect.

I don’t know about you, if it wasn’t for old school people who taught me the ropes in life, I wouldn’t be alive today. If it weren’t for old school talented folks in sports like Michael Kay and Don La Greca, I wouldn’t have a model for journalism.

By the same token, Peter Rosenberg genuinely made the intersection between wrestling, mainstream sports and hip hop seamless and he doesn’t get enough credit.

But those are stories for a different day.

The bottom line and the top line too, as my grandmother would say (someone who leads from her gut) is this: trusting your gut and experience are your best teacher. 

That’s why your Mom and Dad can teach about the birds and the bees.

Joe Torre led from his gut and so did Joe Girardi That’s also why Willie Randolph should be the next manager of the New York Yankees.

I’m Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson and I approve this message.

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The post Don La Greca I agree with you, getting away from ‘old school thinking’ is exactly why Willie Randolph should manage the Yankees appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph. Photo Credit: Mets Merized Online

Check Out Brooklyn, New York native, New York Yankee great and former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph’s chat with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on Scoop B Radio. Press Play Below.

The New York Mets’ take on the Atlanta Braves this afternoon at Citi Field. Injuries and subsequent trades aided in the Amazing’s 66-89 season.

Many blame managing by Mets skipper Charlie Manuel as the reason for the Mets’ disappointing season. Just two seasons ago, Manuel guided the Mets to a World Series appearance against the Kansas City Royals. The Mets would lose in 5 games.

Will he return next season? We shall see.

In the interim, let’s take a look back at former Mets manager Willie Randolph. Randolph posted a 302-253 record while managing the Mets.

While managing the Mets, Randolph guided the Mets to being one pitch away from appearing in the World Series, turning the organization around from being a second tier team and winning their division.

Sadly, Randolph was fired by the Mets in June 2008 after a rough start.

After his firing Randolph would have stints as a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles, he also wrote a book, The Yankee Way: Playing Coaching and My Life In Baseball, Randolph’s story of his life playing and coaching for the most storied professional sports franchise in the world: The New York Yankees.

While on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Randolph, a native New Yorker, reflected on his time with the Mets.

“I got fired in a tough spot,” Willie Randolph told me on Scoop B Radio. “We are hired to be fired and I understand that I was successful and I did a good job and I want to continue.”

Added Randolph:

“Even though I got knocked off the perch or got knocked down I want to get back on that wheel and hopefully get another opportunity and show everyone what I am capable of doing. So you know it doesn’t consume me. I would love the opportunity, God willing, I am prepared and ready for it. But right now, it’s been a little bit frustrating that I haven’t had the opportunity yet. But I am going to stay positive and I am going to stay strong and like I said, stay prepared so if the phone does ring; I will  be ready to take on the next challenge.”

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The post Willie Randolph Says He Got ‘Fired In A Tough Spot’ While Managing The New York Mets appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Former New York Mets Manager Willie Randolph chats with Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson on Scoop B Radio. (Photo Credit: New York Times)

Willie Randolph had a successful career in Major League Baseball.  Randolph played in the 70s and 80s and won 6 World Series titles as both a player and a coach with the New York Yankees.

A Brooklyn native by way of the borough’s Tilden High School, it was a dream come true when he had the opportunity to become manager of the New York Mets for four seasons. During that tenure Randolph guided the team to their first division title in 18 years. The Mets were also within one win away from a World Series appearance.“I waited a long time to get the opportunity,” Randolph told me on today’s episode of Scoop B Radio. “I was honored and blessed to get the opportunity to manage the Mets, the team I grew up rooting for. That’s another thing to convey to the kids: I grew up a Mets fan and then twenty years later I wound up the manager of the team. So again dreams do come true and it could happen to you.”

Check Out Willie Randolph Chatting With Brandon ‘Scoop B’ Robinson On Scoop B Radio

During his time as Mets manager, Randolph posted a 302-253 record. The first African-American to manage a baseball team in New York, Randolph was fired by the Mets in June 2008 after a rough start. After his firing Randolph would have stints as a coach with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Baltimore Orioles, he also wrote a book, The Yankee Way: Playing Coaching and My Life In Baseball, Randolph’s story of his life playing and coaching for the most storied professional sports franchise in the world, The New York Yankees.

All of that is great, but Randolph does miss managing an MLB team. “So after I got fired from the Mets after doing the job I wrote, The Yankee Way: Playing, Coaching and My Life In Baseball,” Randolph told me.

“And being one pitch from the World Series, turning the organization around from a second tier team to winning the division in my second year and then almost getting to the World Series in my third year. So I’m successful. I feel like I’m proud of that because I feel like I am part of a legacy. Jackie Robinson was my hero he was the one that inspired me to be a baseball player. So for me just growing up and feeling that bond.”

Randolph says about his time with the Mets:

“So really why I got fired in a tough spot, we are hired to be fired and I understand that I was successful and I did a good job and I want to continue,” he told Scoop B Radio.

“Even though I got knocked off the perch or got knocked down I want to get back on that wheel and hopefully get another opportunity and show everyone what I am capable of doing. So you know it doesn’t consume me. I would love the opportunity, God willing, I am prepared and ready for it. But right now, it’s been a little bit frustrating that I haven’t had the opportunity yet. But I am going to stay positive and I am going to stay strong and like I said, stay prepared so if the phone does ring; I will  be ready to take on the next challenge.”

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The post Willie Randolph On Returning To Managing In Baseball: “It’s been a little bit frustrating that I haven’t had the opportunity yet” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.