1 earned run in 78 innings. That’s not a typo that’s what MacArthur LHP Randy Leek posted in 1995 while winning the Diamond Award – given to the top pitcher in Nassau County. His minuscule ERA of 0.09 ranks fourth all-time in the New York State record books.
Despite that level of dominance, it was actually the year before that generated more headlines, as he was part of one of the best high school teams in Long Island history.
But before that’s we’ll turn back the clock.
Early Days
Randy Leek was born and raised in Levittown, NY. His father, Rick Leek, was a baseball coach and actually coached at MacArthur HS prior to current legendary coach Steve Costello.
He was huge Met fan and he cited Gregg Jeffries as he favorite player. Later on in life, he met Gregg and stated that was one of the only times he was ever star struck on the diamond.
Randy also played basketball, but he knew that baseball was his true passion. Levittown was a hotbed for baseball in the early 1990s, with the three public schools (MacArthur, Division and Island Trees) all producing high-level talent.
When he was 10-years-old, his local team, Levittown North, was a force. Ultimately, they finished 4th in the World in the Pony Baseball Championship in California, as they defeated Puerto Rico before losing to Philippines. He noted that they played with leading and stealing, which more closely resembles real baseball than the LLWS.
In those days, there wasn’t a bevy of travel baseball teams. He noted that there was the Bayside Yankees and the Long Island Tigers and he was on the Tigers. That team wound up producing a few pro players such as Jason Dellaero who was drafted in the 1st round of the 1997 MLB Draft out of South Florida.
Leek’s team played in the NABF World Series in Georgia, playing against future No. 1 overall pick Pat Burrell and future longtime big leaguer Brian Roberts.
Leek went to Howie Gershberg for pitching lessons occasionally, but he did say it was nothing like today where kids have weekly lessons with hitting and pitching instructors.
MacArthur
When asked to describe the 1994 MacArthur team, Leek used one word:
“Loaded.”
For starters, they had the Diamond Award winner, Jeff Tyler, who went on to become an All-American at Adelphi and their single-season wins leader. Tyler also won 32 games in his high school career which is 12th in NYS history. Combined with Leek, who won the Diamond Award the next year, and they had the best starting pitching on Long Island.
“Everyone on that team played college ball – some didn’t play baseball but everyone was a scholarship athlete in college.” He noted that their catcher, Jim Kegel, wrestled in college. Their SS, Vin Causeman, batted .560 and went onto play at Stony Brook. Rob Bigan played at NYIT, Jeff LaBonte at Binghamton, Jim Kennedy at LIU Post, Mike Messner played at FAU, and so on.
Randy recalled winning the first league game of the year, 1-0 on a squeeze bunt. From that point on, it was full steam ahead. “We blew everybody away until the County Championship against Division. That was a best-of-three with one of the games finishing 5-4. They continued their legendary run through the NYS Championship with victories by the score of 8-2 and 11-3 to put an exclamation point on the season.
During his senior year, Leek was the best player on Long Island. He compiled an absurd 0.09 ERA (1 ER in 78 innings). He also struck out 144 batters and walked 10. Just an incredible run of dominance that will go down in the record books.
College
Leek noted that the college recruiting process was much different during his playing days. He received a few letters, but there wasn’t a ton of interest. He got noticed by William & Mary while pitching at the University of Maryland in a tournament for the LI Tigers. He wound up choosing to attend the school to play Division-I baseball but also that they had a good academic reputation.
Leek stated that the program wasn’t very good when he got the school but they did turn it around. The high point of his career was pitching against Auburn who was ranked No. 10 at the time. Leek pitched the first four innings and they were leading 4-2 but they were defeated, 10-8. Auburn improved to 20-1 with the win.
During his senior year, it was far from a slam dunk that he’d be drafted. In fact, Leek noted that he pitching horribly in one outing early in the season and he remembers talking to one of his coaches over the phone letting off some steam. That conversation proved as a turning point. For his career, Leek is fifth in the program’s record books in walks/9 at 1.89 and his 20 career wins are tied for 7th. Additionally. he is tied for second in games started (54).
On draft day in 1999, Leek got a call from a scout with the Detroit Tigers. He asked him, “Hey if we drafted you, would you sign?” Leek responded with, “That’s why I went to college.”
He wound up getting drafted in the18th round of the 1999 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers.
Pro Ball
Randy played pro baseball for 11 seasons, and it spanned the entire gamut – affiliated ball at every level, Major League spring training, Dominican Summer League, Korena Baseball Organization and the Atlantic League.
He stated that his best season was in 2005 in which he won 15 games and pitched 191.2 innings in the St. Louis Cardinals organization. The following spring, he was invited to Major League Spring Training.
“I thought I had a shot that year.”
Many of you may know that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series that year – the first year playing in the new Busch Stadium. Very few people probably know that Leek was in the building for the first game in the stadium’s history as they played an exhibition game to open up the ballpark. He stated that it was the best field he’s ever played in.
Along the way, there was many stops – as you’d imagine being in the grind of minor league baseball for over a decade. Leek stated that he had the fortune (or misfortune) or pitching in the Pacific Coast League which features some of the toughest stadiums to pitch in in pro ball with the high elevation and vast dimensions. But it was another challenge that he faced that you couldn’t account for.
“They had replacement umps in the PCL. It’s tough enough to pitch with the way the ball flies but minor league umpires were on strike and each team used local umps. I was pitching and the umpire was awful. It was probably the fourth or fifth inning and the pitching coach comes out to the mound and asks me what’s wrong. I told him the umpire wasn’t giving me anything so we waited until the umpire came to the mound to break up the meeting. The umpire goes, “I just can’t pull the trigger today.” Leek had to laugh recalling that story. Fun fact is that Todd Helton was on the other team and he went 1-for-3 against Leek.
Leek also mentioned that as he was getting older it became more of a challenge to justify the lifestyle of a minor leaguer. He got engaged and had his first baby while he was pitching for the Long Island Ducks. He added that it was much easier to play pro ball playing locally and being able to have his friends and family in attendance every game.
He also jumped at the opportunity to pitch in the KBPO for 6 weeks because of the money that was offered at the time. He noted that it was a great experience. He also really enjoyed playing in the Dominican Winter League for 2 winters due to the atmosphere in the stadium and the passion of the fans.
After a certain point, he knew his time was up with professional baseball.
“I wasn’t putting in the work that I needed to. The last two season weren’t up to my standards, I didn’t put the effort in during the winter. It was fun to pitch in front of friends and family but it just wasn’t worth it.
Post-Playing Career
Leek and two of his buddies, Kevin Haverbush and Rob Cafiero, started Hitter’s Club in 2009. He knew Kevin from his HS days and Rob from playing with the Long Island Ducks.
“We all just wanted to stay involved in baseball.” They were in Farmingdale, NY until 2019 before moving to a new facility in Massapequa, NY.
They do lessons, team training and have their own teams. Leek is also a part-time bookkeeper.
These days, he is also spending time watching his kids play. His son plays tennis, golf and bowling. He is a sophomore in HS. He also helps coach his daughter’s softball team and she runs cross-country.
Although the years go on and it’s nearly been 30 years since the legendary undefeated season, their legacy will remain forever. That 1994 MacArthur team will go down in history – 29-0 and the first Long Island team to win the NYS Championship. Leek will forever be apart of that.
