Very sad to hear about Kirby Puckett being dead at 45. Much will be made of his weight and all but I was stunned listening to WFAN last night how he had 2,040 hits in 10 seasons with five seasons over 200 hits topping at 234 in 1988. Practically speaking I missed the two World Series wins by the Twins, studying for the LSAT in October 1987 and being a teacher in Poland in the fall of 1991 - but the idea there was someone floating around back then who was averaging around 80 hits more a year than Manny Ramirez is pretty stunning when you think about it.

I do remember cursing my luck listening from my outpost on the Baltic to an announcer on BBC shortwave sports saying, plummily, that the seven game 1991 series had turned out to be one of the greats of all time. I am pretty sure I have price-compromised Canadian rookies cards from my last spree of baseball card buying in 1984 when the Expos were still kings and we all watched them on tiny little black and white TVs in crammed college dorms and rental houses.