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A group weblog for Oakland A's fans

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Kirby Puckett, the Most Popular Player in Minnesota Twins History

Kirby Puckett was my favorite player from about 1984 when he came up until he retired. He was the most popular player in Twins history. No question. I started vending at the Metrodome in 1984. At the start of the season they had another starting center fielder, but by the all star break, the starting center fielder was Kirby Puckett. Everyone loved that guy in MN. The kids went crazy for him. There would be a "school patrol" day at the Metrodome on a thursday afternoon once a season in the summer, and the upper deck outfield would be packed with 12 year olds, thousands of them. When Kirby would be announced as the batter, their shrieks would be the loudest. Minnesota just loved this guy. Everyone in Minnesota can tell you where they were when the Twins won the World Series in 1987, and probably could tell you again where they were when Kirby almost single-handedly won game 6 of the 91 WS.

I went to a game with my mom and dad in about august 95. We sat in the upper deck of left field and had nachos, and it was fun. The Twins were terrible and their only real star that year was Kirby Puckett. We had gone sailing that day on my dad's sailboat and it was stormy but the game was in the Metrodome so the weather didn't matter. A couple weeks later Kirby got hit in the face with a pitch and never played again. A few weeks after that my dad died in a car accident. I had no clue that would be the last time I'd see Kirby play or my dad alive. Now Kirby dies young. It makes me think I should start my own company now and get going doing something else because my time is short too.

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