Willie Randolph won two World Series titles as a player for the New York Yankees and earned four more rings as a coach with the club. The U.S. squad he's led to the Premier 12 final doesn't have nearly the pedigree of those teams, but the 61-year-old skipper is as proud of this group, made up of minor leaguers, as he is of any of the other teams he's been a part of during his many years in the game.
Randolph was tapped by USA Baseball to manage the team at the Premier 12 and brought four seasons of managerial experience with the New York Mets (2005-2008) to the job. However, because of scheduling and timing conflicts, Randolph was given the tough task of taking a group of players he didn't know much about across the globe to compete against the likes of Japan, South Korea and others.
"We're doing it on the fly," Randolph said. "That's why this is so special for me, because I've never been in a situation like this, where literally we put you together as a group and just drop you in a pot, and you've gotta try to mix it all together and make a stew out of it. So far, it's tasting pretty good."