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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 24, 2002
Randy Winn has helped the Rays win some games by hitting home runs. Friday night, he hit a halfcourt shot at a Los Angeles Clippers game and won a new car. "I figured I'd just go out there and miss and that would be it," Winn said. "No warmup, one shot from halfcourt, I was just hoping to hit the backboard. I just didn't want an air ball." Instead Winn, who played college basketball at Santa Clara, banked the ball in, winning a Mitsubishi Lancer. Winn, who lives in northern California, was in the area for a players association meeting and decided to take a high school-aged cousin to the game. A Clippers staffer stopped them and asked Winn if he wanted to participate in the promotion at the end of the third quarter. Winn, who didn't identify himself as a major-leaguer to avoid notoriety, declined, then agreed at his cousin's urging. "I was lucky," Winn said. "Real lucky."