Rockies pursue Rebels’ Black

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, April 19, 2001 | 10:16 a.m.

When Randy Black got a letter from the Colorado Rockies expressing their interest in the UNLV safety as a baseball prospect, he was understandably skeptical.

"I thought it was a joke, a prank," Black said.

After all, the 6-0, 200-pounder from Clark High School is expected to be picked somewhere between the third and seventh rounds in this weekend's NFL draft. And Black hadn't played baseball since his senior year of high school in 1996.

"I played two years on the varsity," Black said. "I didn't play a lot. I did a lot of stealing of bases more than anything else. I played some outfield."

But when Black and his agent, Dallas-based Jason Medlock, contacted the Rockies and scout Billy Eppler about the letter, they found out Colorado was dead serious about signing Black.

"They told (Medlock) that they not only would match whatever I'm offered in football, they'd double it," Black said. "They said they want to draft better athletes like football has."

Eppler told Black he had followed his career since the sixth grade when Black was his Little League team MVP and a home run hitting slugger back in Richmond, Ky.

"I went back to live there for a year because my grandma (the late Hattie Farris) was battling cancer," Black said. "And she wanted me to play baseball. That was the only reason I played."

But despite his success that year, Black didn't play baseball again until his junior year at Clark High.

"I just didn't have enough time for it," Black said. "I was too busy playing football and basketball and chasing girls."

Black, who just returned from a weekend trip to meet with NFL team officials in New Orleans and Carolina, tentatively has a workout scheduled with the Rockies on April 26.

"I'm not sure I'm going to do it," Black said. "I've been spending all my energy and focus getting ready for the football draft. I haven't had time to hit some balls or run the bases or anything to get ready for baseball. But maybe we can do it at a later date after the mini-camps and everything."

Still, Clark at least he knows he has baseball to fall back on if the NFL draft doesn't go his way this weekend.

"It's kind of funny," Black said. "To offer a contract to somebody who hasn't even played college baseball is wild. It's something I never dreamed would happen."