Posted on 03/05/2006 10:56:55 AM PST by Cagey
FT. MYERS, Fla. -- Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett has suffered a stroke and is undergoing surgery, the Minnesota Twins announced Sunday.
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The Twins said Puckett, a longtime star center fielder for the team, suffered the stroke Sunday morning at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was transported to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, then airlifted to Scottsdale Osborne Hospital, where he is undergoing neo surgery.
Perhaps the most popular player in franchise history, Puckett played his entire career with the Twins (1984-95) and led them to two World Series titles.
Despite having his career cut short by irreversible retina damage to his right eye, Puckett was inducted to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2001.
Fun-loving as a player, the 5-6, 190-pound Puckett was a lifetime .318 hitter with 207 home runs and 1,085 RBI. He retired as the Twins' all-time leader in hits (2,304), doubles (414), total bases (3,453), at-bats (7,244) and runs (1,071).
Puckett was selected to 10 consecutive All-Star Games from 1986-95 and won six Gold Gloves and five Silver Slugger Awards.
Puckett announced his retirement in July 1996 due to the eye injury and had his number 34 formally retired by the team in May 1997.
Dang, hope he convalesces quickly, and that's it's just a minor stroke that won't affect him too much.
It doesn't sound too minor if they had to airlift him to another hospital for emergency surgery. Yikes.
On the field great off the field maybe not so much but i hope he gets better
| Bats: Right Throws: Right Height: 5' 9" Weight: 223 lbs. Born: Mar 14, 1961 in Chicago, Illinois College: Triton |
| CAREER BATTING STATISTICS | |||||||||||||||
| BATTING | |||||||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | AVG | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | K | OBP | SLG |
| 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 |
Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL |
.296 .288 .328 .332 .356 .339 .298 .319 .329 .296 .317 .314 |
128 161 161 157 158 159 146 152 160 156 108 137 |
557 691 680 624 657 635 551 611 639 622 439 538 |
63 80 119 96 109 75 82 92 104 89 79 83 |
165 199 223 207 234 215 164 195 210 184 139 169 |
12 29 37 32 42 45 40 29 38 39 32 39 |
5 13 6 5 5 4 3 6 4 3 3 0 |
0 4 31 28 24 9 12 15 19 22 20 23 |
31 74 96 99 121 85 80 89 110 89 112 99 |
16 41 34 32 23 41 57 31 44 47 28 56 |
69 87 99 91 83 59 73 78 97 93 47 89 |
.320 .330 .366 .367 .375 .379 .365 .352 .374 .349 .362 .379 |
.336 .385 .537 .534 .545 .465 .446 .460 .490 .474 .540 .515 |
| Totals | AVG .318 |
G 1783 |
AB 7244 |
R 1071 |
H 2304 |
2B 414 |
3B 57 |
HR 207 |
RBI 1085 |
BB 450 |
K 965 |
OBP .360 |
SLG .477 |
||
| BATTING | BASERUNNING | MISC | |||||||||||
| YEAR | TEAM | LG | HBP | GDP | TB | IBB | SH | SF | SB | CS | SB% | AB/HR | AB/K |
| 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 |
Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min Min |
AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL AL |
4 4 7 6 2 3 3 4 6 7 7 3 |
11 9 14 16 17 21 15 27 17 15 11 15 |
187 266 365 333 358 295 246 281 313 295 237 277 |
1 0 4 7 4 9 11 4 13 7 7 18 |
4 5 2 0 0 0 1 8 1 1 1 0 |
2 3 0 6 9 5 3 7 6 5 7 5 |
14 21 20 12 6 11 5 11 17 8 6 3 |
7 12 12 7 7 4 4 5 7 6 3 2 |
.667 .636 .625 .632 .462 .733 .556 .688 .708 .571 .667 .600 |
--.- 172.8 21.9 22.3 27.4 70.6 45.9 40.7 33.6 28.3 22.0 23.4 |
8.1 7.9 6.9 6.9 7.9 10.8 7.5 7.8 6.6 6.7 9.3 6.0 |
| Totals | HBP 56 |
GDP 188 |
TB 3453 |
IBB 85 |
SH 23 |
SF 58 |
SB 134 |
CS 76 |
SB% .638 |
AB/HR 35.0 |
AB/K 7.5 |
||
Stats Glossary
Posted: Fri January 11, 2002 12:23:26 PM ET
I great player whose career was ended much too early, let's pray that his life is not cut short also.
Yeah, I guess my eagle eye missed that tidbit in my quick scan of the article. A shame. Strokes are cruel things, and recovery is a trying time for all involved. Hopefully he gets to the point where he can recover.
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