Diunte: Macho Man Randy Savage was ‘a good little catcher’ in minors
From SABR member Nick Diunte at The Sports Post on April 14, 2017:
In 1971, Mike Vail and Randy Poffo were anonymous teenagers at the entry level of the St. Louis Cardinals farm system, eagerly trying to navigate the murky depths of professional baseball. Both would go on to garner national attention for their athletic feats. However, only one of them made their calling on the diamond. At the time for Vail, it wasn’t immediately clear that they would each experience success in different arenas.
“We were both real young, 18-19 years old,” Vail said during a recent phone interview in New York. “Randy, strictly from a baseball standpoint, I thought he was a pretty darn good little catcher.”
The Randy that Vail praises for being a quality receiver is better known to sports fans as WWE Hall of Famer, “Macho Man” Randy Savage. During their summer as teammates, the younger Poffo outpaced Vail in both batting average and home runs. His later turn to a wrestling career caught Vail by surprise.
“We were roommates when we first came in with the Cardinals,” he said. “We kinda grew up together. It was interesting that he became the wrestler he was. It was kind of funny to see him become a wrestler; I thought he would continue on in baseball, but I guess he decided to go another way.”
Read the full article here: http://thesportspost.com/baseball-history-vail-macho-man-nym/
Originally published: April 14, 2017. Last Updated: April 14, 2017.