It came as a shock to me when I heard news the Kirby Puckett had passed away. We all knew that "Puck" had suffered a stroke on Sunday morning in Arizona but I don't think any of us thought this was going to happen. Yes, I do run a Phillies blog and Podcast here however, the Twins were actually the team I followed most closely in my high school days and early 90's when Puckett really became a household name not only in Minnesota but also in the entire United States. I'm not really sure how I came to follow the Twins so intently, I'm not from Minnesota nor have I ever visited there, but sometime in the late 80's I decided that the Vikings were my favorite football team, the North Stars would be my NHL team and the Twins would be my passion in Major League Baseball. Since then, age has brought me closer to my native Central PA homeland and Philadelphia sports in the Phillies and Flyers. Not that any of that matters right now, I just wanted to write about someone who I watched and admired growing up and someone who always seemed to have a smile on his face and always seemed like he was enjoying the game. I was in 10th grade when the Twins defeated the Braves for the 91' World Series. Never will I ever forget the 6th game when Puck hit the game winning home run in the bottom of the 11th. The next night Jack Morris would pitch 10 innings and Gene Larkin would drive home Dan Gladden for the Twins victory in 7 games. Puckett was a huge part of that team, he was the player that stuck out. He was without a doubt in my mind the MVP of that series. When you thought of the Twins, you thought of Kirby Puckett, and I still think back to Kirby stating before game 6 that the "Twins will win". Kirby won game 6 with his play in the outfield and home run in the 11th. A .318 lifetime hitter, Puckett leads the Twins in hits, doubles, at bats and many other categories. A 10 time all-star, we all know that Puck's career was cut short in 1996 due to vision problems, who knows what else he could have accomplished. The baseball world has lost a legend, champion, and friend, Puckett will be missed [email protected]

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