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I'm so grateful to you all for your support over the years.

In today’s edition…

He was a 5’8” assembly line worker at a Ford factory.

When he showed up at a summer league game, everyone thought he was too small.

But “no one knew how big his heart was.”

Let’s dive in 👇

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Clocking in at 5’8”, 180lbs, Kirby Puckett was built nowhere close to what a typical center fielder looked like. Maybe a catcher or first baseman, but not a center fielder.

And yet, he made it work, earning six Gold Glove awards.

But it wasn’t just his effort in the outfield that made Puckett one of the most beloved players in Twins history, or MLB itself. It was the way he approached the game. Never taking it for granted.

A two-time World Series champion and a first ballot Hall of Famer, his journey from the housing projects in Chicago to Cooperstown is one of the sport's great underdog stories.

Born on March 14th, 1960, just a mile away from Comiskey Park in Chicago, Puckett and his nine siblings grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes, one of Chicago’s most notorious public housing projects.

In an area where crime and drugs were a constant temptation as soon as you walked out the front door, Kirby managed to escape the dark side of life thanks to the game of baseball.

With his father working two jobs and his mother at home raising the kids, Kirby grew to become a high school All-American level third baseman for the Calumet Warriors.

Yet despite his award-winning status, he struggled to draw any scholarship offers.

It’s crazy to think that a future Hall-of-Fame player who hit over .300 in his pro career couldn’t get a sniff from a college program.

So instead of heading to a college campus like his peers, Puckett stayed home to help his family financially.

He got a job working on an assembly line, installing carpet in Thunderbirds at the Ford Motor Company.

But his time at the auto plant didn’t last long. After losing his job with Ford, he decided to attend a free-agent baseball tryout organized by the Kansas City Royals.

That’s where he met a college scout from Bradley University and earned himself an unexpected scholarship offer.

“I didn’t really know what to do, then Dewey Kalmer (Bradley’s coach) came up to me, and he asked me if I wanted to go to school at Bradley University,” Kirby told a reporter.

“I said, ‘OK, I’ll take it.’”

During his first and only season playing Division I baseball, Puckett moved from his familiar spot on the left corner of the infield out to the spacious grass in center field.

While his performance on the field was impressive, his life off the field suffered after the passing of his father.

He left campus for a month to be closer to his family. When he got back, his grades took a nosedive, forcing him to leave Bradley and transfer to Triton Junior College.

During the summer in between, he played in the Central Illinois Collegiate League.

That same summer, Major League Baseball cancelled 712 regular-season games due to a strike that went on for 54 days.

Jim Rantz, an assistant farm director for the Minnesota Twins, decided to take advantage of his newfound free time and watch his son play.

“I wasn’t on assignment,” Rantz told Baseball America, “but I guess when you’re at a ball game, you’re always working.”

While watching his son, his attention shifted to a player on the opposing team. The kid went 3 for 4 with a home run, stole a few bases, and threw a runner out at the plate.

Rantz later found out his name: Kirby Puckett.

“What impressed me the most was the way he carried himself on and off the field,” Rantz said.

“It was like 90 degrees or more, and everyone else was dragging around. He was the first one on the field and the first one off. You could see he enjoyed playing; he was having fun.”

Years later, Rantz shook his head about how lucky he'd gotten.

All the stars aligned that day: the strike, the team his son happened to be playing against, and Puckett's eye-catching performance on the field.

“Call it fate if you want, but otherwise I would not have seen him," he told Baseball America.

"The one knock on him was his size; everyone thought he was too small. Again, as Kirby went along, he got a little bigger, but no one knew how big his heart was.”

Eligible to be drafted in 1982, Rantz convinced the Twins’ front office to use the third overall pick on Puckett in the now-defunct January Draft – a secondary draft for non-traditional prospects (think high school players who graduated in the winter, junior college players, and guys who dropped out of college).

To paint a clearer picture, one MLB scout later told the LA Times, “The January draft seems to be such an insignificant draft.”

The same could be said about the Twins’ original offer to Puckett: $6,000, which he turned down to stay at school for his first JUCO baseball season.

It turned out to be the right move. He ended up winning NJCAA Player of the Year, leading Triton to the Junior College World Series with 16 home runs, 78 RBI, 42 stolen bases, and a .472 batting average.

Those gaudy numbers made the Twins up their offer to $20,000, knowing that their original bid may have turned him away.

After signing on the dotted line, Puckett continued his torrid attack at the plate. Playing his first season with the Elizabethton Twins, he led the Appalachian League with a .382 batting average.

The following season with the Single-A Visalia Oaks, Puckett hit .318 with 97 RBI. He would go on to play just 21 games with the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens before the Twins called him up in the spring of 1984.

On May 8th, 1984, he made his MLB debut against the California Angels, tying a major league record by going 4-for-5.

It was just a sign of things to come as he finished his first season batting .296 and placing third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting behind Mark Langston and winner Alvin Davis of the Seattle Mariners. 

Throughout his first two seasons, Puckett was mostly a contact hitter, averaging .296 and .288. With his compact frame and lack of height, his game was catered towards speed and spraying the ball around the field.

Or so it seemed. 

In 1986, he added a new element to his game: power.

Smashing 31 home runs, the most he would hit in a single season, the Twins center fielder hit .328 and earned the first of ten straight trips to the All-Star Game. 

Puckett would also be rewarded with the first of six Gold Glove Awards, turning from a scrappy underdog into a legitimate all-around superstar. 

A season later, he went “supernova” on opposing pitchers. Opening Day against the Oakland A’s saw him go 3-for-5 with a homer, a double, two RBI, and a pair of runs. Later that summer, over the span of two games against the Milwaukee Brewers, Puckett went 10-for-11, with four home runs, two doubles, six RBI, and scored seven runs.

Not only would he lead the American League with 207 hits, but he was also key in helping guide the Twins to their first World Series Championship, where he upped his game, hitting .357 in a seven-game series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Four years later, Puckett would cement his name among the greats of the game. 

With the Minnesota Twins trailing the Atlanta Braves 3-2, Puckett’s performance in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series was nothing short of legendary.

Prior to the game, in typical upbeat fashion, he did his best to motivate his teammates.

“Guys, I have just one announcement to make: You guys should jump on my back tonight. I’m going to carry us.”

In the third inning, Puckett showed his Gold Glove-worthy defensive talent, robbing Ron Gant of extra bases with a spectacular catch at the wall. On a night in which he went 3-for-4 with a stolen base and three RBI, Puckett tied the series with arguably one of the most famous walk-off home runs in baseball history, launching a game-winning bomb off of Charlie Leibrandt in the bottom of the 11th inning.

“Touch ‘em all, Kirby Puckett! Touch ‘em all, Kirby Puckett!” shouted Twins radio broadcaster John Gordon.

The Twins would go on to win their second World Series the following day in a 10-inning, 1-0 victory. Within the span of five years, Puckett became a two-time champion. Ironically, the only two times Puckett made the playoffs, it resulted in a World Series parade.

Statistically, his twelve-year career numbers are impressive: a .318 batting average, 2,304 hits, 207 home runs, and 1,085 RBI. Add in an ALCS MVP, 6 Gold Gloves, 6 Silver Sluggers, an AL batting title in 1989, and an All-Star Game MVP.

Not a bad career for a guy who used to install car carpets for a living.

Unfortunately, that career came to an end too early.

At the beginning of spring training in 1996, Puckett awoke for a spring training practice and could not see out of his right eye. Diagnosed with glaucoma, the Twins' star was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his career.

Despite three surgical attempts to restore his vision, he was forced to retire four months later at the age of 35.

The Minnesota Twins retired his number 34 a year after that, and in 2001, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

Sadly, five years later, he passed away at 45 years old from a stroke.

"It's tough to take," said then-GM of the Twins, Terry Ryan.

"He was one of those guys. Man, he was a good human being...he would treat you as well as he would anyone else. No matter who you were."

In 2010, the Twins erected a statue of Puckett at Target Field, showing him pumping his fist while rounding the bases following his memorable World Series home run. The plaza’s largest entrance was designated Gate 34 in his honor.

Once a kid who had nothing and was overlooked by everyone, who worked on an assembly line rather than playing college ball and was far from the typical athletic physique, Puckett turned that underdog narrative into the stuff of legend, becoming one of the great ballplayers of his era.

“I was told I would never make it because I’m too short, but I’ve got 10 All-Star games, two World Series championships, and I’m a very happy and contented guy. It doesn’t matter what your height is; it’s what’s in your heart.”

🐶

Today’s story was written our friend in the north, Steve Lee.

If you liked this one and know someone else who might find it inspiring, please share it and encourage them to subscribe:

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Til next time,
Tyler

🌟 Trivia Answer: A) Rodney Dangerfield. Here’s the 1985 promo for “No Respect Night” at Shea Stadium.

💪 Watch this 85-year-old man casually bench press 315 pounds without a spotter while listening to radio commercials.

⚾️ “I was not that guy.” Listen to MLB slugger Brent Rooker describe his own underdog journey.

👀 In case you missed it: The $4,000 “one-eyed” prospect who shocked MLB scouts

🥹 A comment that made my week: “This is another banger - I didn’t know his backstory, especially the no HS ball……kudos brother” – EbaySteve44