This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/4/2017
One of the most dynamic hitters in American League history, the late Kirby Puckett never batted lower than .288 in any season and finished
his 12-year career with a .318 average and one batting title while
guiding the Minnesota Twins to World Championships in 1987 and 1991.
Puckett was equally adept with his glove, garnering six Gold Gloves as the league's top centerfielder. Presented here is Kirby's 1984 game-worn Twins home jersey from his 1984 rookie season, when the 5' 8", 180-lb. youngster batted .296 and finished 3rd in the A.L. ROY voting. Amazingly, for a guy who finished with over 207 home runs in his Hall of Fame career, he did not hit a single home run in 583 plate appearances that year. He then hit just four during his sophomore campaign. The power came in year three when he launched 31 long-balls and put up MVP numbers from that point forward.
It is rare to find a rookie Puckett gamer in the hobby. How rare? Well, we've couldn't find one ever offered from our research. The white knit jersey, with red and navy blue trim around the sleeves and V-neck collar, is properly tagged by Wilson behind the collar with Size 44 and washing instructions label. On the left front tail is additional "84 1" tagging to indicate year and set. The classic cursive "Twins" in red tackle twill outlined in navy blue adorns the front, with Puckett's No. "34" sewn on the back in the same format. The Twins did not put player names on the backs again until the '87 season. The Minnesota Twins patch
is sewn on the left sleeve. The jersey
shows evenly solid wear throughout as suggested by its nearly perfect A9.5 rating from MEARS. Awesome piece from one of baseball's greatest contemporary hitters, who left the world way
too early at the age of 46.
Includes letter from MEARS (A9.5).