NOTE: Baseball talk ahead.
I’ll probably get drummed out of the White Sox Fan Club for saying "Win Twins!" The Sox and Twins are in the American League Central Division and huge rivals. At the same time, there are a lot of players that played for both teams, including Earl Battey, Don Mincher, Eric Soderholm, Jim Kaat, and Jim Thome, and maybe the Twins’ best player in the ’80’s and ’90’s, Kirby Puckett, grew up within walking distance of Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox for 80 years.
Kirby was murder against the White Sox, but it’s the 1991 World Series against the Braves that really hurt. He was the first batter up in the bottom of the 11th inning in Game 6, the Braves leading in the series three games to two. If the Twins lose this game, the Series is over. Charlie Leibrandt had just come on in relief. Kirby deposited Leibrandt’s fourth pitch in the left-field stands for a game-winning home run.
Of course, had Puckett not robbed Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the 3rd inning, there might not have been an 11th inning.
Though the Braves lost, I still think that was one of the best World Series ever. Five of the seven games were decided by one run, four of the seven went into extra innings.
Enough baseball talk. We now return you to Stream of Consciousness Saturday, brought to you by freeze-dried Sanka brand coffee. Home-ground taste returns!
The Sound of One Hand Typing 
My brother is the expert I baseball so I will send him this link. I know art stuff and film, of course.
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I’m sure he’ll remember Kirby Puckett. He was one of the top players in the American league starting in the mid-’80’s.
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The 91 World Series was one of the most exciting WS ever. Puckett was so good and it’s so tragic the turn his life took. I still can’t believe he died so young but with all of the health problems he had it shouldn’t be a surprise.
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I was bummed after the Braves lost, but I came away thinking that was the best baseball I had ever seen, and I doubt there will ever be another series like it. And, you’ll note, they still wore their socks the right way, with the stirrups over the sanitaries.
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Yes they did!
Refresh my memory John…didn’t Willie McGee make a bad running mistake that really cost the Braves?
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It was Lonnie Smith. Willie never played for the Braves. Greg Gagne really deked him, and he ended up running back to first.
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Oh ok that is right! I don’t know why I thought of McGee… Thank you.
Greg Gagne would later play for the Dodgers and then they would have an Eric Gagne.
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Hey, now tour talking. My team,
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Are you from the Twin Cities? Mary and I hought about moving there until I experienced firsthand how cold it gets there.
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Yes, I have lived in a suburb of St. Paul all my life. Winters are nippy but you can always dress for the cold. The beauty of the other 3 seasons are worth going through the winter. Plus the winters are getting warmer.
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Kirby is Wow oh Wow! what a superstar athlete!!
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Poor guy had all kinds of trouble, physical, emotional and mental. I think the end came too fast, when he started to go blind. He’s in the Hall of Fame, and rightly so, but never had the post-career a lot of players do.Still, what a beast when he was playing…
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I didn’t realize his full history, going to looking him up
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That’s the way championship games should go. If there’s a blowout or a sweep, something’s wrong (or fixed).
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There are times, when the teams are so grossly overmatched, it’s not even enjoyable to watch.
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