Remembering Kirby Puckett's Game 6 of the 1991 World Series

October 26, 1991. It was twenty years ago today...

It was the day that defined the legacy and history of Kirby Puckett's career with the Twins.

Without him carrying the Twins to the promised land and Game Seven, things could have ended so differently..."Jump on my back guys." That's what legends are supposed to say.

Heroes get remembered-but legends never die

When most non-Minnesotan's think about him, their thoughts must undeniably drift back to The Catch and The Hit during Game Six (Box score/play by play) of that epic Fall Classic . That he was able to muster  such a performance on this stage says volumes about him as a clutch, "money player."

It's odd. You can recall stalwart, talented guys like Ernie Banks, or more recently for Twins fans, Rod Carew. Their numbers are there for us to see, of course. You can read them and say "They were good." But they never got into a series. So, there was no dramatic, national, defining moment that burnished their myth and legend. Bill Clinton never got his Gulf War. Huey Lewis never got acclaim for his serious, jazz horn albums (damn that Brian Setzer!). Kind of a sad thing for those players, really. The stories told about them won't have the same resonance, the same life breath of awe, that guys like Kirby or George Brett, or Joe Carter, or even Bill Mazeroski and Jim Leyritz (for God's sake) have for coming up big on the biggest stage of them all.

I've certainly been getting
my Twins jollies, posting
scads of Twins post season
memories to Twitpics of late!

Ah, but Kirby surely got his! Now enjoy Twins history as it was...

These calls go down as the best remembered in announcer John Gordon's career.

And here's the entire at bat, with added commentary, and Jack Buck's

famous, national television call:

As our old friend at the mic, Herb Carneal, would say: "...So long, Everybody!" - TT

Photo Courtesy Heinz Kluetmeier/CBS (SI)