Savage is a second-generation professional wrestler; his father Angelo Poffo was a well-known wrestler in the 1950s and 1960s, who was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not! for his ability to do sit-ups for hours on end. Randy's brother Lanny had a moderately successful career as a wrestler, too, most notably under the names "Leaping Lanny Poffo" and "The Genius." After college, Randy was a minor league baseball catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He injured his natural (right) throwing shoulder at one point so he learned to throw with his left arm instead. When Poffo played for the St. Petersburg Cardinals minor-league baseball team in 1971, one of his teammates was Keith Hernandez. The team was managed by Jimmy Piersall.