Randy Kutcher was a utility player for the Giants and Red
Sox from 1986 to 1990.
Randy Scott Kutcher was born April 30, 1960, in Anchorage,
Alaska. He played more hockey than baseball until, when he was eleven, his
family moved to Palmdale, California, north of Los Angeles and on the edge of
the Mojave Desert. He graduated from Palmdale High School in 1979 and was
drafted, as a shortstop, in the fifth round of the free agent draft by the
Giants. He played that season for the Great Falls Giants of the Rookie Class
Pioneer League, hitting .253/.327/.327 and playing shortstop.
For 1980 Randy moved up to the Clinton Giants of the Class A
Midwest League, and was again the regular shortstop. He got his first Sporting News mention on July 5:
One Walk Leads to Defeat
Steve Manderfield of Burlington (Midwest) gave up just one walk in eight innings of work against Clinton June 15, but that was enough to beat him. The pass was issued in the first inning to the Giants’ leadoff batter, shortstop Randy Kutcher, who promptly stole second and scored on a single by third baseman Rafael Estepan. Estepan’s game-winner was only one of four hits permitted by Manderfield…
Randy’s hitting was very similar to the previous season, as
he went .253/.319/.333, but he improved his fielding percentage dramatically
and also stole 65 bases in 81 attempts.
Randy began 1981 with the Fresno Giants of the Class A
California League. From the Sporting News
of May 23:
Finishing April With a Flourish
April didn’t begin as a productive month for Fresno (California) center fielder [actually he was still playing mainly shortstop] Randy Kutcher, but he wasn’t complaining about his production at the plate over the final 10 days. Hitting only .192 as of April 20, Kutcher warmed up with 16 hits in the next 10 days to finish the month at .328. In the Giants’ 19-7 rout of Modesto April 30, he collected four singles and two doubles in seven trips to the plate. The six hits were just one shy of the league record for a nine-inning game.
Randy cooled off some after that, and was hitting
.273/.316/.416 with 18 stolen bases in 41 games when he was moved up to AA
Shreveport of the Texas League. He was their everyday shortstop for the rest of
the season and he continued to improve his hitting, going .285/.347/.418 in 77
games and stealing another 22 bases.
In 1982 Randy was back with Shreveport, now splitting his
time between shortstop and the outfield. He hit just .247/.290/.325 in 397
at-bats, but stole 30 bases and, at least in the few box scores I found, was
the leadoff hitter.
Randy got bumped up to AAA Phoenix of the Pacific Coast
League for 1983, where he started to move toward becoming a utilityman, playing
shortstop, outfield, third base, second base, and even two games at catcher. He
hit .273/.319/.375 in 275 at-bats, and stole 16 bases.
In 1984 he was back, now
playing mainly outfield but also appearing at all the same other positions as
in ’83. He hit .277/.311/.363 in 336 at-bats and stole 16 bases, but was also
caught 16 times.
In 1985 Randy was invited by the Giants to major league
spring training as a non-roster player. He got a mention in the March 7 San Francisco Chronicle for turning in
the defensive play of the day in an intersquad game. He spent the season in
Phoenix again, though, this time almost exclusively as an outfielder, and fell
off some in his hitting, winding up at .237/.299/.333. Some details of his
85-86 off-season were reported on in the 6-27-86 San Francisco Chronicle:
Things didn’t look good for Kutcher either last winter. After seven mediocre minor league seasons in the Giants’ system, Kutcher was not protected by the Giants and automatically became a free agent. A couple of teams showed passing interest, “but the Giants were the only one that offered a little more money,” said Kutcher, who re-signed with the team.
His life was at a pivotal stage. Kutcher, the father of a 3-year-old, is now going through a divorce from a woman he says “was a big part of my life, especially encouraging me in baseball.”
He could have left baseball for the safe income of working for his father’s construction business.
“I had to decide whether I wanted to dig ditches or wield a hammer the rest of my life,” he said.
He decided to try baseball again. He lifted weights feverishly during the winter, and had his batting style overhauled by Phoenix manager Jimmy Lefebvre.
“He moved my hands down, had me keep my weight back, made my swing more compact, had me hit to all fields,” said Kutcher…
It worked—Randy hit .346/.391/.611 with eleven home runs in
208 at-bats, while playing various positions, and on June 17 was brought up by
San Francisco following an injury to center fielder Dan Gladden. He made his
debut on the 19th, leading off and playing center at San Diego. From
the next day’s Chronicle:
The highlight for the Giants yesterday was Randy Kutcher’s major league debut in center field. Purchased from Phoenix on Wednesday, Kutcher opened the game with his first hit, and in the ninth inning hit his first home run.
“He’s strong,” [Manager Roger] Craig said. “I’ve only seen him play one game. I’m not smart enough to know if he can be my center fielder.”
Craig, did, however, refer to Kutcher as a “humm baby,” his highest accolade and the all-purpose motto of the ’86 Giants.
The June 27 Chronicle
article quoted previously also included the following:
Since coming to the Giants, Kutcher has hit safely in seven of the eight games he’s started, and carries a .286 average with two homers.
“He’s got a lot more power than I thought,” said Roger Craig, who will let Kutcher play until he shows he can’t produce.
Craig had never seen Kutcher play until he arrived in San Francisco, but he came with a good recommendation.
“I just heard he was kind of a Pete Rose-type player,” Craig said.
He has not only displayed Rose-type versatility, but has Rose’s passion for the game. Kutcher said he was so excited after getting a hit in his first major-league at-bat and later hitting a homer in the same game that he could barely hold a cup of water.
“The biggest thrill of my career,” however, came after the Giants returned to Candlestick the next day with Vida Blue pitching for the Giants, according to Kutcher.
“Every time the crowd started yelling, ‘Bluuuuuuuuuuu,’ it sent chills down my spine,” Kutcher said. “It was awesome playing behind him.”
From Glenn Dickey’s column in the July 7 Chronicle:
Giants’ Kutcher Carving Out a Future
Randy Kutcher has a temporary locker in the Giants’ clubhouse, but probably not for long.
“He’s going to be around for a long time,” Willie Mays said while kidding with Kutcher before yesterday’s game.
The day Kutcher came to the club, Mays gave him some quick, very basic advice.
“Mostly, he told me there are times when you can relax in the outfield, between pitches,” Kutcher said. “Just a little thing like bending over and putting my hands on my knees.
“I’m not a relaxed kind of guy. I tend to stand out there with my arms stiff, and after 4-5 innings, my arms get tired. But I’m working on it.”
Mays downplayed any help he gave Kutcher. “I don’t believe in trying to change a guy during the season. That just messes him up. I’ll do that with him in spring training next year.
“Anyway, I don’t see that he’s doing anything wrong now.”
Kutcher’s play, in fact, has created a pleasant dilemma for manager Roger Craig: What to do when Dan Gladden returns.
“They’re basically the same player,” Craig says. “They’re about the same size, and both run well. Kutcher maybe has a little more pop in his bat. I’ll tell you this, though: The worst thing that will happen to Kutcher is that he’ll be a utility player for me. He’s not going back to Phoenix.”
A note in the July 22 Chronicle
said that Randy, Mike Schmidt and Gary Matthews were the only National League
players with five or more home runs in July. But by then Randy was slumping,
and when Gladden came off the disabled list on the 25th he reclaimed
his spot in center. Randy played in most of the remaining games, but mostly
coming off the bench; he ended up hitting .237/.279/.409 with seven homers in
186 at-bats in 71 games.
Randy was kept on the major league roster during the
off-season, and in February 1987 he signed a new one-year contract. The February 27 Chronicle, in an article about the
team’s decision to stop providing smokeless tobacco for the players, mentioned
that Randy had quit using it. The March 21 Chronicle
contained the first of many feature articles that would appear during Randy’s
career that would focus on his versatility:
A Handy Guy Named Randy
By Ray Ratto
Randy Kutcher is being under-utilized this spring. Here it is the middle of March, and he’s played only five positions.
You see, somewhere during his baseball travels, the Giants’ most utilitarian player was sold on the idea that the more he could do, the better chance he’d have of making a major league team.
It might have been during the drive from Great Falls, Idaho [no, Montana!], to Clinton, Iowa, or the year-and-a-half in Shreveport or during one of his occasional Caribbean winters.
But the idea stuck with him, to the point that he spent this past winter in Puerto Rico learning how to play first base. That’s after playing six positions last year, and working on his catching now and then.
“I played in San Juan, and I hadn’t played first very much in my life,” he said. “But they had (Houston infielder) Bert Pena, Seattle shortstop Rey Quinones and (Baltimore second baseman) Juan Bonilla, and I didn’t want to screw them up, and they had (San Diego outfielder Carmelo) Martinez and that (Rafael) Palmeiro guy from the Cubs in the outfield.
“I said, ‘Hey, I can play first,’ and I went and played. I did all right, too. I thought I did pretty good.”
That is Kutcher’s ticket to ride, as well as his curse. His versatility makes him a valuable member of any team, but never invaluable, and the difference between the two levels starts at 80 games a year, moves to several hundred thousand dollars in salary and ends up as several years in the pension plan.
Kutcher spent seven years in the minors learning the differences, and making his peace as a member of the lower end of the spectrum. He now is very much a major leaguer, but at the same time he never really can be sure until the bags are packed for San Francisco…
“I don’t mind it,” Kutcher said of his role. “There are a lot of people in this game who can’t do what I do. A lot of them can, but don’t want to. Me, I’ll do it for 10 years if it’ll keep me up here.”
Meanwhile Randy had something else to deal with, which was
looked back on in an article in the August 8, 1989, Hartford Courant:
Dec. 31, 1978, was supposed to be fun. Kutcher was a high school senior. He and some friends stopped at a gas station to rendezvous with a friend who was getting off work.
They ran into a bunch of toughs there. Right after Kutcher threw his attacker through a window, he got stabbed in the back. So much for basketball season.
Kutcher was with the Giants at 1987 spring training and feeling great. He finally had made it to the big leagues in 1986, appearing in 71 games. But when doctors called him off the playing field and told him he had a tumor the size of a bat handle knob behind his lung, he wondered if he’d ever appear in another game.
“I couldn’t eat, I felt so sick,” he said. “I tried to go out with the guys on the team to have fun. I couldn’t have fun.”
Two and a half weeks, dozens of X-rays and 15 pounds later, doctors told Kutcher what they’d thought had been a tumor was just scar tissue from the stabbing…
Randy was the last player sent down to Phoenix at the end of
spring training, but he was recalled after two weeks when Eddie Milner entered
drug rehab. He got into four games before being sent back to Phoenix on May 3. In
early July he missed some time with a hamstring injury, then in early August he
was called back to San Francisco briefly during an injury to Candy Maldonado,
getting into two more games. On September 1 he came back and finished the
season as the Giants won their division.
From the October 13 Chronicle:
Randy Kutcher, from the Giants’ farm system, isn’t even on the playoff roster. He’s in uniform because he offered to warm up pitchers in the bullpen. But he’s doing a first-person playoff account—Kutcher’s Kolumn—in his hometown paper in Palmdale for the playoffs.
It’s not bad. Kutcher says he warmed up Dave Dravecky before his two-hitter Saturday.
“I’d never caught him before,” he said, “and I was a little worried. But man, everywhere I put my glove—pow. I knew right then the guy had great stuff.”
For the season, Randy hit .255/.337/.378 with 31 stolen
bases in 349 at-bats for Phoenix, playing mostly outfield and third base, and
.188/.235/.375 in 16 at-bats for the Giants.
On September 1, the Giants had picked up Dave Henderson from
the Red Sox, in return for a “player to be named later,” to help down the
stretch of their playoff run. On December 9, the deal was completed when Randy
was sent to Boston as the previously-unnamed player.
On January 28, 1988, Randy signed a contract with the Red
Sox, and on February 29 the Boston Herald
ran their first feature on him:
Seeking a perfect 10
Sox’ Kutcher won’t be caught out of position
By David Cataneo
WINTER HAVEN, Fla.—A few of Randy Kutcher’s goals: Stick with the Red Sox, help them win a pennant, and one of these days join Bert Campaneris and Cesar Tovar in the record book.
“I would like to do it one day,” agreed Kutcher, eyeing the twice-accomplished feat of playing all nine positions in a single major league game. “I’ve always thought about that, playing nine positions in one game.”
For Kutcher, the idea isn’t all that farfetched. In his nine years in the minors, the right-handed hitter has taken a turn at every position except pitcher. Two years ago, while up with the San Francisco Giants, he played third, short and center in one game, and center, second and third in another.
“One of those was in St. Louis. We got into a big fight with them, and some of our guys got kicked out,” he said. “The only positions I haven’t played in the major leagues are first base, pitcher and catcher.”
At least, not yet.
Kutcher, 27, was dealt to Boston as the player to be named later in the Dave Henderson trade. Now he’s in the Red Sox’ camp, willing even to expand his versatility to crack the roster: The other day, at the minor-league diamond down the road from Chain O’ Lakes Park, he worked on his catching.
“I caught some in San Francisco, in spring training games, but never with the big club,” he said. “Somebody told me about last year, when they had to use Mike Greenwell at catcher. I’ve also heard they don’t want to leave without three catchers. If I can show them I can catch, as well as play the infield and outfield, that would be great for me.”
In many respects, Kutcher is something of a throwback. In an age of baseball players toting briefcases to work, he exhibits a pure exuberance for the game. And in an age of rampant specialization—where most players can field just one position, and some can field none—Kutcher practices the dying art of the utility ballplayer.
“Chris Speier inspired me a lot,” said Kutcher, who never has spent a full season in the majors (longest stay with the Giants: 71 games in 1986). “He works out, takes ground balls and turns double plays at all three infield positions. I’ve always admired him. Not only was he a good shortstop, but he was a good utility man.
“If everybody worked as hard as he does, and loved the game as much as he does, it would be a much better game. A lot of people seem to just take it for granted.”
Thus, a spring training day for Kutcher might go something like this: Catch a half-hour of batting practice, warm up a pitcher or two in the bullpen, take batting practice, take infield practice, then shag balls in the outfield.
“Some guys think being a utility man is a downer,” said Kutcher, 5-11, 175 pounds, with a shock of curly, brownish blond hair cascading out the back of his cap. “Some classify it as not having a position. I classify it as being a versatile ballplayer.”
…Summoned from Triple-A in Phoenix after Sept. 1, Kutcher was ineligible to join the Giants in their league championship series last fall.
“I’d like another shot at a pennant-winning club,” he said. “Talent-wise, I think we’ve got a better club here than we did in San Francisco. The Giants didn’t have the kind of starting pitching we have here.”
And one of these days, he’d like to tie Campaneris and Tovar. Or better yet, to surpass them: There are, after all, 10 positions to be played in the American League.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” said Kutcher, perking up. “I forgot about the DH. That’s not a bad idea.”
Just like with San Francisco in 1987, Randy was the last
player cut at the end of spring training, being sent down to Boston’s AAA
affiliate, Pawtucket of the International League. On June 4 the Red Sox,
looking to boost their offense, called up Randy and Kevin Romine, whom manager
John McNamara said were the two hottest hitters at Pawtucket.
But Randy got
into just five games before he was sent back down on July 21, then was called
back up after the IL season ended, rejoining the Red Sox on September 5. With
Pawtucket he hit just .233/.290/.317 in 331 at-bats, with 16 stolen bases,
playing mostly at third base. He was used mostly as a pinch-runner while back
with Boston, and finished with two hits in twelve at-bats in 19 games for them.
In February 1989 Randy signed a new one-year contract with
the Red Sox, then reported to spring training to fight for a job again. He
changed his uniform number from 55 to 5, saying “I just didn’t feel like a
linebacker.” From the Herald, March
21:
Kutcher catching on
Sox’ utility player surges toward roster
By Joe Giuliotti
WEST HAVEN, Fla.—If ever anyone deserves to make a team it’s Randy Kutcher.
The Red Sox’ utility man is a member of the “Whatever they want me to do, I’ll do” school and he has been drawing dean’s list marks during spring training which just might result in his being in uniform in Baltimore on April 3.
Kutcher, who turns 29 on April 20, knows he’s not going to crack the Opening Day lineup, but he realizes the best way for him to make the team is to be a jack-of-all-trades. This spring he has been just that, playing every outfield position, third base and yesterday catcher.
He caught two innings in the morning “B” game won by the Sox, 5-1, and while he was no threat to taking the No. 1 and 2 jobs from Rich Gedman and Rick Cerone, he boosted his stock to make the team…
Randy did in fact make the team; it would be the only
season of his career spent entirely in the majors, and he became the daily 12:30
lunch partner of creature of habit Wade Boggs when on the road. After a number
of appearances off the bench, he made his first starts on May 24 and 25 when center
fielder Ellis Burks needed a couple of days off with an injured knee. Randy was
almost the starting catcher on the 25th, though, as both Gedman and
Cerone were injured, but at the last minute Gedman was able to play. From the Herald of June 3:
Randy Kutcher, making small talk on the Sox’ bench: “Turds. That’s what we call ourselves. It’s a baseball term for the extra men. We take pride in being turds.” Coach Dick Beradino, eavesdropping, begged to differ. “No. Skrewgiles! When I was playing football at Holy Cross, the guys who never got in—the ones who practiced on the B field—were the skrewgiles. That’s what you are. You’re not a turd. You’re a skrewgile. But be proud anyway.”
On June 8 Randy finally got his major league catching debut,
as described in the next day’s Herald:
Kutcher catches as catchers can
By Mike Shalin
NEW YORK—All season long we’ve heard the Red Sox have a third catcher. And Randy Kutcher almost caught one game recently when Rich Gedman had a foot injury and Rick Cerone’s eye was dilated.
There was talk of Kutcher going behind the plate for the first time in a major-league game that counts, but no real action…until last night.
Kutcher’s assignment was simple—go up to bat as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth, tie the game with your bat and then make your major-league debut behind the plate.
Nothing to it.
His two-out, two-run double down the right-field line—a looping drive that almost became a three-run double or triple—tied the game, 7-7, and meant the debut would happen in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game in Yankee Stadium…
Kutcher knew exactly what he was in for if the game became tied or the Sox went ahead. “He says, ‘You’re hitting for Geddy,’ that told me right there,” he said.
And, as luck would have it—what looked to be bad luck—Neon Deion Sanders, a football star who runs like crazy, singled off Lee Smith with one out in Kutcher’s first inning at his new position. All Steve Sax had to do was stand there and let Sanders steal second, right? Wrong.
Sanders didn’t run on the first pitch, Sax swung and flied to right. OK, so Don Mattingly would stand there and allow Sanders to steal second, right? Wrong again. Sanders didn’t go on the first pitch. Mattingly swung and flied to left.
What’s going on here?
“He had the green light,” Yankee manager Dallas Green said of Sanders. “He didn’t know he was a new catcher.”
Somebody had to.
“He would have thrown him out,” said [Boston manager] Joe Morgan, who had to know how tough it would have been for Kutcher to do so…
On June 16 Randy became the starting center fielder for a
couple of weeks after Burks went down with a shoulder injury; then he went back
to primarily coming off the bench.
On August 7 he appeared in the Sporting News’ “Insiders Say” column:
Randy Kutcher, a reserve outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, displaying a T-shirt that said “Kutch Potato” after he drove in four runs with a single and his first home run since 1986 as Boston beat Chicago, 8-2, on July 23 to end the White Sox’ winning streak at eight games: “I’m like a couch potato. I sit on the bench and come in once in a while. Instead of a couch potato, though, I’m the Kutch potato.”
At that point Randy was in the middle of a week of playing
right field during an injury to Dwight Evans. On August 22 he came in at third
base late in a game in New York and homered, as reported by the next day’s Herald:
Kutcher in the clutch
Homer in 9th lifts Sox over Yanks, 4-3
By Joe Giuliotti
NEW YORK—The kamikaze kid dive bombed the Yankees last night and had Boss Steinbrenner talking to himself.
“Who the hell is he? Who the hell is Randy Kutcher? When did he go into the game?” King George asked, storming from his private booth moments after the Red Sox’ utility performer had kissed a John Candelaria pitch into the bleachers in right-center field…
The game was also looked back on in a column by Bill Ballou
in the Worcester Telegram of April
29, 2012:
Kutcher played for Boston from 1988 through 1990 and his most memorable moment came at Yankee Stadium on August 22, 1989, when he hit a long home run to right-center off John Candelaria in the eighth inning, the blast providing Boston with a 4-3 victory.
Afterward, Yanks owner George Steinbrenner was quoted as saying, “Who the (heck) is Randy Kutcher?” Later, Steinbrenner gave Kutcher an autographed ball with words to the effect that now, he knew who Kutcher was.
On the 23rd Randy got the start at third base and
aggravated a groin injury, as reported by the Herald on the 28th:
Kutcher, who said he initially hurt his groin catching for Oil Can Boyd during batting practice, aggravated it playing Wednesday night in New York and was hardly able to walk Thursday morning.
“It’s at the top of my groin and the doctor thinks the muscle may have come away from the bone. This is going to take awhile,” he said. Kutcher, who singled in his only at-bat yesterday, said the injury is painful when he makes quick moves but not when he swings a bat. As he was talking, he had a difficult time pulling on his socks and pants.
On the 29th he was placed on the disabled list,
then he returned on September 12, got into three games, reinjured himself on
the 15th, and made it back in time to start the last game of the
season at third base, on October 1. For the season he hit .225/.273/.363 in 160
at-bats in 77 games, playing mostly in the outfield.
In March 1990 Randy signed another one-year contract with
the Red Sox, then got a mention in the March 26 Herald:
Utility man Randy Kutcher used his arm to turn an alligator around and head him into water. The gator was in a gully behind Chain O’ Lakes Park and people were throwing objects at him trying to hit him so he’d turn around towards the water. Kutcher picked up a rock and scored a direct hit on its head. The gator quickly turned and headed into the water. “That was my good gas. Call me Roger [Clemens] II,” he said.
Randy made the team again, but didn’t get as many chances to
start as he had in 1989.
On July 30 he was sent down to Pawtucket to clear a spot on the roster. He hit
.316/.377/.412 in 35 games there, mostly as the shortstop, then on August 30 he
was recalled by Boston in time to be eligible for the post-season. From David
Cataneo’s “Between the Lines” column in the Herald
of September 1:
Kutcher ready to have fun
Randy Kutcher returned to the Red Sox yesterday and found his old locker just the way he left it. Still cluttered. Still with a “Couch Potato” sign over his name-plate. Still next door to Tony Pena.
“Except my pants are missing,” said Kutcher. “I don’t know where they went to.”
Kutcher was gone for 30 days, which he spent uneasily in Pawtucket. He was demoted on July 31, when the Red Sox picked up Mike Marshall. On Kutcher’s way out, the Red Sox promised to bring him back. Fine. But Triple-A is never charming when you’re 30.
“That was the longest 30 days of my life,” said Kutcher. “Seemed like two years.”
…”When I talked to my family (after getting sent down) and they asked me what I was going to do, I told them I was still having fun in this game. I talked to my girlfriend back home and told her the same thing. As long as I was still having fun, it was OK.”
Randy got into 12 games in September, five of them starts at
third and second. For the season he hit .230/.345/.351 in 74 at-bats in 63
games, the .345 being easily his best major league on-base percentage, thanks
to a big increase in his walks frequency, which had never been very high. The
Red Sox did make the playoffs and Randy was on the roster, but he made just two
pinch-running appearances as Boston got swept by Oakland.
During the off-season Randy filed for salary arbitration,
but reached agreement on a new contract with the team before the hearing.
Spring training 1991 found him fighting for a roster spot again, and he made
the team. However, he had not gotten into a game yet when on April 18 he was
placed on waivers when the Red Sox signed utilityman Steve Lyons. From the
April 19 Herald:
Kutcher, a right-handed hitter who turns 31 tomorrow, was stunned by the news.
“I never saw it coming and I’m just glad I was here,” Kutcher said. “The Red Sox gave me a chance to play. There’s a great bunch of guys here, I wish them well.
“This is going to be a fun year around here. I’m sorry I’m not going to be a part of it.”
Kutcher said he wasn’t offered a Triple-A job.
He said he wasn’t bitter about his release, but was surprised he was replaced by Lyons.
“Lyons? I’m glad I didn’t know that when I was in the office with them,” Kutcher said of general manager Lou Gorman and manager Joe Morgan.
On April 27 Randy was signed by the Toledo Mud Hens, the
Tigers’ AAA affiliate in the International League. He played 70 games for them,
primarily in the outfield, and hit .232/.320/.325 in 237 at-bats. In 1992 he
went to Mexico to play for the Monterrey Sultanes, but a month into the season
decided he was done with baseball and went home to work in construction.
The Major League Baseball Players Association went on strike
in August 1994, and were still out when spring training 1995 was scheduled to
begin. The team owners hired replacement players, and Randy decided to try to
get back into the game. He went to camp with the Yankees. From the Hartford Courant of February 21:
Kutcher, 34, spent parts of five seasons in the majors—1986-87 with the Giants and 1988-90 with the Red Sox. Like many in the Yankees clubhouse, Kutcher does not consider himself a strikebreaker.
“I’m here for a minor league job,” said Kutcher, who hit .228 in 448 big-league at-bats. “I’m not even sure I can do this. If the strike is still on in April, then I’ll have another decision to make.”
Kutcher has been a construction worker in Palmdale, Calif., since quitting baseball one month into the 1992 Mexican League season. He said he hasn’t had much contact with baseball players since then, “and they haven’t gone out of their way to stay in touch with me.”
The strike ended just before the regular season was set to
start, and Randy, not being offered a minor league contract, went home to
Palmdale. Eventually he started working in Hollywood as a crew member on
television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
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