Published: April 1, 2010

It was Oct. 29, 1999, and the New York Yankees had just won their 25th World Series championship. Jubilation and ticker-tape flooded the streets of Lower Manhattan that day as Yankee fans came to pay homage to the best baseball team of that season.

Ed Randall, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’74, was in the crowd that day covering the parade for WFAN. As big a baseball junkie as there is, he might have gone to the parade even if he was not working in the sports media. But for Randall, triumph soon gave way to anxiety, as he received a phone call that would change his life forever.

Randall’s doctor called to confirm that a recent blood test revealed he had prostate cancer. This was something that Randall had feared, since his prostate specific antigen test had spiked high during a routine physical. However, it seemed unfathomable that something so deflating could happen to him.

“I was 47 years old, with no family history or symptoms of cancer whatsoever,” Randall said.

Randall went to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital a few days later for surgery to remove the cancerous cells.

Exactly six months later, the West Harlem native was back on the baseball field to cover the MLB during spring training.

Randall soon turned his harrowing experience into an opportunity to help others. He knew many influential people in professional baseball, and could help other males protect themselves from prostate cancer. This planted the seed for what would become Randall’s charity organization known as Bat For The Cure.

“It’s remarkable to think that the relationships I’ve nurtured standing around the batting cage three hours before a game would help me years later for such an important cause,” Randall said.

Bat For the Cure has held cancer screenings in 132 minor league ballparks and some major league facilities as well, including Yankee Stadium. Randall knows that there is a 96 to 97 percent success rate of beating prostate cancer if it is caught early, which is why his organization is adamant that American males get tested frequently. But Randall has a unique definition for measuring his charity’s success.

“I can safely say that I started a business with the hope that it goes out of business,” he said.

Randall balances his charity work with a successful career in broadcasting, hosting his Talking Baseball radio show every Sunday morning on WFAN.

Randall got his start in radio at Fordham’s WFUV, a launching pad for many successful broadcasters, though he didn’t initially plan on it. As it turned out, Randall was introduced to the station during the first days of his freshman year by his orientation leader, who happened to be a news director at the station.

Building on the legacy of great Fordham broadcasters like Vin Scully, whom he considers a mentor, Randall eventually earned his own show.

“I had always wanted to do radio vignettes, but the general manager at SportsChannel NY asked me to do a baseball talk show,” Randall said of the early days of Talking Baseball. “He didn’t have to ask me twice.”

Currently 57, Randall knows that he is fortunate to be able to talk about his favorite sport for a living, and lucky to be alive in the first place.

“God gave me a second at-bat. There is nothing I can do on the air that is more important than changing the behavior of American males,” he said.