Saturday, September 14, 2013

One early view of Kirby Puckett

Baseball America published this piece on Jim Weber, who has broadcast 5,000 straight Toledo Mud Hens games. He's the radio voice for the Triple A team since 1975 and hasn't missed a game since 1985.

Sorta puts Dan Gladden's vacations in perspective, doesn't it?

I'm mentioning it here because Weber tells this story about how his lack of scouting ability:

It's 1984, and Toledo is the Twins Triple A affiliate, and the young Kirby Puckett is their center fielder. The team is Maine on a road trip and he's told to get Puckett to an airport so he can catch a flight to go to the big leagues.

"I couldn't understand it," Weber told BA. "He hadn't been with us very long and he wasn't putting up numbers. He was just a young kid. So as he was getting out of the car, I told him, 'If you're only up there a couple of weeks, it's an experience. Enjoy it.'

"I thought for sure I'd be seeing him again in a couple of weeks after I dropped him off at the airport."


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