Lenny Randle Blew a Ball Foul

On May 27, 1981, in a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Seattle Mariners at the Kingdome, Royals outfielder Amos Otis tapped a slow roller down the third base line. The ball was creeping along the chalk, just barely in fair territory, heading toward the outfield grass. It was going to be an infield single. There was no play to be made.

Lenny Randle, the Mariners' third baseman, had a different idea. He ran up to the ball, dropped to his hands and knees, and blew on it. He screamed, "GO FOUL! GO FOUL! GO FOUL!" The ball drifted across the line into foul territory.

Home plate umpire Larry McCoy initially called the ball foul. Royals manager Jim Frey came out to argue, pointing out that Randle had used his breath to redirect a live ball. McCoy conferred with the other umpires and reversed his call, awarding Otis first base on the grounds that Randle had illegally altered the course of the ball.

Randle denied everything. "I didn't blow it," he told reporters. "I used the power of suggestion. I yelled at it."

The umpires were not persuaded.

The play became an instant classic, replayed on every baseball blooper reel for the next four decades. The MLB Umpire Manual was updated to include a rule interpretation titled "Infielder Interferes with Course of Ball," which states that if a fielder "stoops down over the ball and blows on it or in any other manner does some act that in the judgment of the umpire causes the ball to roll onto foul territory, the umpire shall rule a fair ball."

Randle died in December 2024 at the age of 75. He had spent his post-playing years coaching youth baseball and organizing sports camps. His baseball legacy, a 12-year major league career with a .257 batting average, was permanently overshadowed by one breath on one ball on one night in Seattle.