I Love This Game!; My Life and Baseball

New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1993. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Ronald C. Modra (Jacket photograph). viii, [2], 238, [4] pages. Illustrations. The major league player describes his childhood in Chicago's South Side, his introduction to baseball on improvised fields, his discovery by a scout, and his experiences in the major leagues. Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 - March 6, 2006) was an American professional baseball player. He played his entire 12-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career as a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins (1984-1995). Puckett is the Twins' all-time leader in career hits, runs, and total bases. The Minnesota Twins selected him in the first round (third pick) of the 1982 Major League Baseball January Draft-Regular Phase. Puckett's major league debut came on May 8, 1984, against the California Angels, a game in which he went 4-for-5 with one run. That year, Puckett hit .296 and was fourth in the American League in singles. Puckett helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio. Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire in 1996 at age 36 due to loss of vision in one eye, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility. Nobody plays baseball--or loves baseball--like Kirby Puckett. Now this intoxicatingly upbeat All-Star tells his story: a marvelous, personal account of a love affair with life and baseball. Derived from a Kirkus review: On the evidence of this sunny-side-up (and apparently unassisted) autobiography, Puckett—one of major-league baseball's more solid citizens on the field and off—would be well advised to stick with his seasonal trade for as long as possible. The ninth and last child born into an affectionate and hard- working black family, Puckett grew up on Chicago's South Side. A late bloomer as a ballplayer, the author was drafted only after he'd spent a couple of years competing at the college level. Called up by the Minnesota Twins in 1984 after barely two years in the minors, Puckett was a big hit from the outset. A fast center fielder with superb defensive skills and a dangerous batsman with above-average power, he helped his team win the World Series in 1987 and 1991. In the meantime, the industrious ballplayer married a local belle and settled in the Minneapolis area, where he's made a respected name for himself in community and national causes. By Puckett's account, the most dramatic event of his upwardly mobile existence turned on the question of whether the Twins would offer him enough money to sign a long-term contract. The club decided to do so, and the perennial All-Star appears prepared to spend the rest of his diamond career with Minnesota.