Will Fame And Love Return

The Long Road Back

Chesapeake Harbor Stadium

Baltimore, Maryland

Sunday September 30, 2007

The final day of the 2007 baseball season was over. Rick Randolph’s injury riddled season was mercifully over for him.

Having lost the final game of the season to the Pittsburgh Gold Sox’s by the score of 8 to 2, the Baltimore Clippers indeed their season with 70 wins and 92 losses, finishing last in 4th place, but just a year after winning the Carrington Cup Championship and 4 straight years of winning 100 or more games, without the managerial genius of Bill Falstaf, and an injured Rick Randolph the team spent the entire season floundering in deep morass, as new manager Edmond Hawthorne was nowhere near the caliber of one of the greatest baseball managers and strategist’s of all time.

Rick Randolph’s batting and fielding statistics were nowhere near what his production had been over his stellar career.

In playing in only 27 games, Rick only had 70 at bats, 16 hits, for only a .228 batting average, with only 3 doubles, 7 runs scored, and no rbi’s. Rick’s career batting average dropped 2 points to .344. Having been an “Ace Glove Award’ winner through most of his career, Rick only had 42 assist’s, 18 put outs, an astounding 18 errors  committed, plus a number of times having touched the ball and not being able to do anything, his fielding percentage was only .783, compared to a career fielding average of .994.

For Rick Randolph, it was time to put this disastrous season behind him and start fresh for the 2008 baseball season. But that was going to be 

difficult, because of how successful his baseball career had been, and if he did have any concerns, he could always go to his ex wife Alicia Reynolds as a sounding board, but that was long gone and not to be anymore. 

Rick just went ahead a cleaned out his locker stahl and then went outside to his car to put all of his packed up gear in the trunk. Rick decided to close out his hotel suite and head on home up I-95 to beautiful Elk Neck.

As Rick headed up the interstate his thoughts turned to Bill Falstaf and his return to the Philadelphia Diamonds, and how he turned the team around and fished with an 82 wins and 80 losses record and a 3rd place finish and on his way to rebuilding the team, just as he did in 1970 with the Washington Eagles, in 1985 with the New York Majestics, in 1995 with Philadelphia Diamonds and the Baltimore Clippers in 2001.

Then the thought came to him, maybe, just maybe, Bill Falstaf will once again acquire him for his team, just as Bill did when Rick was the number 1 draft pick for the Diamonds in 1997 and when Rick was traded to the Clippers in 2003. Maybe, just maybe, lightning will strike once again.