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Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995). Puckett was instrumental in helping the Twins to win World Series championships in 1987 and 1991. Puckett generally played center field, although he was shifted to right field later in his career.
Puckett was a popular player due to his charisma and his passion for the game as well as his skills. He is known for having hit a dramatic game-winning home run in Game Six of the 1991 World Series. Puckett led the American League in batting with a .339 average in 1989 and led the league with 112 runs batted in in 1994. Overall, he won six Silver Slugger Awards and six Gold Gloves during his playing career and was named to the AL All-Star Team 10 times. He finished his career with a .318 batting average, 207 home runs, and 1085 runs batted in.
After being forced to retire in 1996 at age 36 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility.