January 13

Daily Rewind - January 13 - The twins pluck Puckett

January 13, 2025

January 13, luck is something that gets over looked, are you lucky or do you create it? in 1982 in the since defuncted January draft the Minnesota Twins drafted a little known Junior College player, Kirby Puckett. He stayed in school for another semester and blossomed into the junco player of year, the Twins were able to hold onto his rights luckily for them.

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Best,

Tom

TODAY ON THE DAILY HIGHLIGHT

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Today’s Highlighted Reel:

Jackie Robinson Radio Show Episode 124 Alice Landon
Home run Derby Episode Four: Harmon Killebrew vs Rocky Colavito

January 13, 1922, former Chicago White Sox star Buck Weaver applies for reinstatement to baseball. Weaver, one of the eight “Black Sox” players banned for their involvement in throwing the 1919 World Series, is turned down by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

January. 13, 1982, Kirby Puckett was selected by the Minnesota Twins with the third overall pick of the regular phase of the January Draft. Instituted in 1966 for players who graduated from school in the winter, the January Draft was discontinued after 1986. Puckett an unknown at the time, The Twins offered him $6,000, so he decided to stay at Triton for the spring semester. He led the Trojans to the Junior College World Series by hitting .472 with 16 homers and 78 RBIs, along with 28 doubles, eight triples and 42 stolen bases. He was named the national juco player of the year—and he was no longer an unknown. “Thank God we had the rights to him,” Rantz said. The Twins eventually offered him $20,000 and he signed with them. 5 years later the Twins were world champions.

(Audio highlights: Kirby Puckett on Hardball Podcast)

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Cooperstown calls – January 13, 1982, Hank Aaron and Frank Robinson win election to the Hall of Fame in their first years of eligibility. Aaron established a major league record with 755 home runs, Aaron falls nine votes shy of becoming the first-ever unanimous selection, and his 97.8 election percentage is second only to Ty Cobb’s 98.2 percent in the inaugural 1936 election.

(Audio highlights: Hank Aaron I had a hammer podcast, Frank Robinson interview on Malice towards none)

January 13 1991 — While playing for the Oakland Raiders of the NFL, Bo Jackson suffers a career-threatening injury in an American Football Conference playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Originally diagnosed as a pulled thigh muscle, the Kansas City Royals learn of the severity of the injury just as spring begins. They will release Jackson shortly after, fearing that his baseball career is over, and he’ll sign with the Chicago White Sox.(Audio highlights: Bo Jackson on Hardball Podcast & the play that changed his career)

January 13 2005 — The North Dakota House of Representatives approves a resolution proclaiming that native son Roger Maris should be elected to the Hall of Fame.

(Audio highlights: Ralph Kiner on Maris breaking the single season HR record)

Passed away, January 13, 2008 in Glens Falls, NY, Johnny Podres . . .Had Johnny Podres won just one game for the Dodgers, he would have been a Brooklyn hero. That one game was Game Seven of the 1955 World Series when he blanked the Yankees and gave the Dodgers their first World Championship. The 22-year old became an instant sensation in Flatbush.

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