» May 8, 1984: Minnesota's Kirby Puckett collects four singles in his first ML game, a 5–0 blanking of the Angels. He's the 9th player in history to collect four hits in his first 9-inning game.

» November 22, 1984: Seattle's Alvin Davis easily wins the American League Rookie of the Year Award over Mark Langston and Kirby Puckett.

» April 22, 1985: The Twins collect 16 hits in sinking the Mariners, 9–5. In the 4th, Kirby Puckett hits a 3-run homer, his first home run in the majors, off Matt Young. After no homers last year, Puckett will hit four homers this season before blossoming into a power hitter with 31 next year.

» May 3, 1986: Minnesota's Kirby Puckett hits a home run on the game's first pitch (from Walt Terrell) for the 2nd consecutive night, but the Twins lose to the Tigers 7–4. The night before Puckett hit Jack Morris's first pitch for a home run to spark the Twins to a 10–1 victory.

» July 18, 1986: Against Baltimore's Scott McGregor, the Twins first two batters -- Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaetti -- hit homers Puckett adds another to help the Twins to a 7–3 win. Bert Blyleven is the winner.

» August 1, 1986: Minnesota's Bert Blyleven fires a 2-hitter and strikes out a club-record 15 batters to become the 10th pitcher with 3,000 career strikeouts. Kirby Puckett hits for the cycle to lead the Twins to a romp 10–1 over the A's.

» September 15, 1988: In a 10–3 Twins win, Kirby Puckett collects his 1,000th hit, a double off Chicago's Shawn Hillegas, He is the 4th ever to get 1,000 hits in first five seasons (Medwick, Waner, Combs.) He'll end with 1062, two hits short of Joe Medwick's record of 1064.

» May 13, 1989: Kirby Puckett hits four doubles in the Twins 10–8 win over the Blue Jays, tying the ML single-game record. He will hit two more doubles in a 13–1 win tomorrow to tie the 2-game record.

» October 1, 1989: Minnesota's Kirby Puckett and San Diego's Tony Gwynn each win batting titles on the final day of the regular season. Puckett goes 2-for-5 to edge Carney Lansford .339 to .336, while Gwynn goes 3-for-4 to beat Will Clark .336 to .333.

» November 22, 1989: Twins OF Kirby Puckett re-signs with the club for $9 million over three years, making him the first ML player ever to sign a contract that calls for an average salary of $3 million per year. More will follow.

» August 16, 1990: In a 7–5 loss to the Indians, the Twins Kirby Puckett starts off in RF and then moves to SS, 3B, and 2B in the 8th inning. Al Newman switches from 3B to SS back to 3B in the frame. Cleveland fails to score.

» May 23, 1991: Kirby Puckett has his 2nd career 6-hit game in a 12 inning 10–6 loss to Texas. Jeff Russell is the winner over Steve Bedrosian.

» June 29, 1991: In an 8–4 loss to the White Sox, the Twins Kirby Puckett collects his 1500th career hit, off winner Greg Hibbard. Scott Erickson is the loser, ending his 12 game win streak.

» July 20, 1991: At Boston, Twins ace Scott Erickson stops the Red Sox, 5–0. Kirby Puckett hits his first ever homer at Fenway.

» October 12, 1991: The Twins take a three games to one lead in the ALCS with a 9-3 win behind Jack Morris. OF Dan Gladden drives in three runs for the victors, and Kirby Puckett homers.

» October 13, 1991: Minnesota advances to the World Series for the 2nd time in three years with a come-from-behind 8-5 win over Toronto. ALCS MVP Kirby Puckett leads the way with a homer in the 1st and a single to break a 5-5 tie in the 8th. Rick Aguilera gains his 3rd save of the series as reliever David West notches the win.

» October 26, 1991: Minnesota evens the Series at three games each with a 4-3 win on Kirby Puckett's dramatic home run in the bottom half of the 11th inning.

» May 2, 1992: Yankee P Scott Sanderson becomes the 12th pitcher in history to surrender four home runs in a single inning. He is rocked in the 5th inning of the game against Minnesota by Shane Mack, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, and Randy Bush. The Twins need all the dingers as they win, 7–6.

» June 28, 1992: Minnesota rumbles by Oakland for the 3rd straight game, 10–2, to leave the two teams tied in the American League West at 43–31. Scott Erickson wins over Kevin Campbell. Kirby Puckett and Greg Gagne homer for the Twins.

» August 7, 1992: As of today, the No. one hitters in the AL and NL, Edgar Martinez and John Kruk, are both hitting .341. The No. two hitters in each league, Kirby Puckett and Andy Van Slyke, are both hitting .331. The No. three hitters in each league, Shane Mack and Gary Sheffield, are both hitting .329.

» July 14, 1993: The American League defeats the National League, 9-3, in the All-Star Game. Kirby Puckett, Roberto Alomar, and Gary Sheffield hit home runs, while the win goes to Jack McDowell. Craig Biggio is at 2B for the NL: last year he was on the team as a catcher, the first player ever to make it at those two positions. A highlight of the game is Randy Johnson firing a 95-MPH fastball over John Kruk's head. Kruk bails out on the next two pitches, saying afterwards, he's going to kill somebody."

» July 22, 1993: Kirby Puckett belts a ball to the left of the baggie hanging on the RF fence at the Metrodome. The ball is ruled in play and Kirby gets a double, though the replay shows it to be a homer. Minnesota goes on to defeat the Orioles, 8-4.

» August 15, 1993: Twins' OF Kirby Puckett gets five hits, including a pair of 2-run home runs, in Minnesota's 12-5 win over Oakland.

» May 20, 1994: Minnesota OF Kirby Puckett's seven RBIs leads the Twins to a 21-2 victory over the Red Sox. Minnesota scores 11 times in the 5th inning to put the game away. Rookie OF Andy Tomberlin hurls the last two innings for the Sox, and allows just one hit and no runs.

» August 10, 1994: Minnesota OF Kirby Puckett drives in seven runs as the Twins defeat the Red Sox by a score of 17-7.

» September 28, 1995: Kirby Puckett is hit by a pitch by Cleveland's Dennis Martinez and suffers a broken jaw and a burst artery in his mouth. The Indians go on to win the game, 12-4.

» March 28, 1996: Kirby Puckett is taken to the Ft. Myers Hospital after he awakes with his vision affected by a career-threatening malady. He has a black dot in front of his left eye and his vision is diagnosed as 20/200. Puckett, who hit .360 in spring training, will undergo surgery on April 17.

» July 12, 1996: Minnesota star Kirby Puckett announces he is retiring, effective immediately, because of glaucoma in his right eye.

» May 25, 1997: The Twins retire Kirby Puckett's #34 in a 90-minute pregame ceremony. The Twins then hold on to trip the A's, 7–6, in 11 innings.

» January 16, 2001: Outfielders Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett are elected to the Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot. After much speculation, Winfield announces he'll go in as a Padre.

» August 5, 2001: Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett, Bill Mazeroski, and Negro League star Hilton Smith are inducted into the Hall of Fame.