1945-1946
RANDY HEFLIN   P

Randy Heflin was born on September 11, 1918, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He attended Falmouth and Fredericksburg High Schools, where he played high school football, basketball, and baseball, and played some semipro baseball in the area, too, including for the Heurich Brewers, the Olde Heurich Brewing Company team in Washington’s Industrial League. In 1937 his pitching helped lead Fredericksburg High to the Virginia state title.

After graduating in 1938, he was signed to a Boston Red Sox contract and reported to the Rocky Mount Red Sox. In 1939 he pitched most of the year for the Clarksdale Red Sox (Class-C Cotton States League). He worked out with the Boston Red Sox at Sarasota in the spring of 1940 and was optioned to Rocky Mount at the end of March. In an April 1940 game, he struck out 22 batters.  In 1941 and 1942, he pitched in the Eastern League and at the very end of the 1941 season, he briefly joined the Louisville Colonels.

After the 1942 season, Randy joined the United States Navy and served all of 1943 and 1944 before his discharge in early 1945.

Upon his discharge, he joined the Louisville Colonels, and in eight games, he was 3-2. His first game with the Red Sox was in June, giving up three runs in two innings at Yankee Stadium. He finished the year 4-10 with a 4.06 ERA.

He opened the season with the 1946 Red Sox, never allowed more than an earned run an appearance, and had a 2.45 ERA after the five appearances. They were the last games he pitched in the big leagues. He had been nursing a sore arm since spring training, and hurt it more in June, so he stayed home when the Sox went on the road. They optioned Randy to Louisville when he returned. He had gone to Louisville, but he had been a member of the pennant-winning 1946 Red Sox.

In late March 1947, with the Boston team in Sarasota, he hurt his arm again and thought he was through for good. In 1947, 1948, and the beginning of 1949, he pitched for the New Orleans Pelicans, another Red Sox farm team. He didn’t pitch much, because his arm kept him off the mound most of the year and in May he was given his unconditional release. For the rest of the season, he pitched in South Carolina for the Anderson Rebels in the Class-B Tri-State League. 

In December, Randy was signed to manage the Greenville (North Carolina) Robins of the Class-D Coastal Plain League, where he was a player-manager for the team. In both 1951 and 1952, he managed the New Iberia (Louisiana) Pelicans of the Class-C Evangeline League. After the season was over, he asked for and obtained his release and that was the end of his time in professional baseball.

He then worked for several years as the manager of the Fifth Marine Corps Exchange and for the S. Abrahams & Co. uniform shop in Philadelphia. In 1964, he was worked as a machine operator.

Randy Heflin passed away at age 80, on August 17, 1999, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.