Former 'Macho' outfielder Poffo dies

Former Minor League outfielder Randy Poffo, best known for his role after baseball as the "Macho Man," died Friday morning in a car accident. He was 58.

Poffo, born in 1952 as Randall Mario Poffo, spent four seasons in the Minors with the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds from 1971-74 before moving on to a slightly more successful career as a professional wrestler under the name Randy "Macho Man" Savage. He was also well known for his catchphrase, "Ooooooh Yeah!" which later became a marketing tool as a spokesperson for Slim Jim.

Poffo reportedly suffered a heart attack while driving with his wife in a 2009 Jeep Wrangler in Seminole, Fla., on Friday. He drove across a concrete median into oncoming traffic and "collided head-on with a tree," according to Florida police. He was taken to Largo Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen Tweeted about the news on Friday.

"Macho Man, I was big fan of you and so were my kids," Guillen said. "[We're] a wrestling family, [you] were awesome."

Poffo, a Columbus, Ohio, native, began his baseball career at age 18 in 1971 with the Cardinals' Rookie-level Gulf Coast League affiliate, where he went 18-for-63 with two homers in 35 games. He was reportedly signed after working out at a tryout camp.

He returned to the GCL in '72, batting .274 in 62 contests, and hit .344 in 25 games with the GCL Redbirds in 1973 before the Cardinals moved him up to Class A Orangeburg (S.C.) later that summer.

"He was a real nice guy," former Cardinals player development director Lee Thomas told the Chicago Tribune in 1988. "He seemed like such a quiet guy at the time. We knew he was moving on to something else, we didn't know what."

St. Louis Minor League system administrator Paul Fauks said Poffo kept to himself.

"He didn't have much to say to anybody," he told the Tribune. "He was just one of those kids trying to make it in baseball with very little chance."

"Savage" struggled a bit in the Western Carolinas League -- Orangeburg finished last, at 50-72, while the outfielder hit .250 in 46 games.

Former teammate and Cardinals Major Leaguer Tito Landrum remembers Savage building makeshift rings in the clubhouse and wrestling anyone who was willing.

The "Macho Man" spoke about his baseball baseball in 1988. "The way I explain it sometimes is this: I wasn't a bonus baby," Poffo told the Tribune. "I bounced around the Minors in baseball and I bounced around in the minors of wrestling, too, before I got called up by the WWF. If I have one major attribute, it's my drive."

He joined the Reds in 1974 and spent his final season with the Tampa Tarpons in the Florida State League. He played against future Major Leaguers like Eddie Murray and Dennis Martinez with the first-place Tarpons, who went 68-64 but fell in the first round of the playoffs.

Poffo, according to Baseball Reference, was listed as a switch-hitter who mostly played the outfield but also caught one game and played first base five times in '74. He played alongside a few future Major Leaguers, including 14-year veteran outfielder Larry Herndon.

According to a 2007 interview, "Savage," a right-hander, claimed he injured his right throwing shoulder at one point during his career and learned to throw with his left arm instead.

His career as a wrestler began during his third year in the Minors, when, during the offseason, he began competing under the name "The Spider Friend." Poffo, who entered the ring with "Pomp and Circumstance," later adopted the name Randy Savage, going on to a storied career in the WWF as the "Macho Man" marked a rivalry with Hulk Hogan. He appeared in the 2002 film Spider-Man as Bone Saw McGraw.