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Wheaties Salutes Kirby Puckett & Kent Hrbek 

Two of Minnesota's True Champions

THIS BOX HAS STAMPED SIGNATUURES OF kIRBY PUCKETT & KENT HRBEK

Champions take many roads to their destinations, and rarely is the journey without bumps.

For Kirby Puckett, it was a trip that began amidst the high-rise poverty of Chicago. This was the south side. But Puckett's thoughts were north a ways, within the ivied walls of the ballpark where his favorite team played.

For Kent Hrbek, the journey started in Bloomington, Minnesota. At night, his dreams were lit by the lights of the nearby stadium.

And now that they are in the same place, they have different ways of staying there. Puckett hits .300 every year, chases down every flyball in centerfield, and lights up the clubhouse with his smile. Away from baseball, he devotes significant energy to the Children's Heart Fund. Hrbek hits towering homers, ignites his teammates with his determination, and rises at dawn before a big game so that he can retire to a duck blind. Away from baseball, he often devotes himself to raising money for ALS-"Lou Gehrig's Disease"- the ailment that struck down his father.

Hrbek has a textbook swing, a follow-through that reminds you of those photographs of another great left-hander who pointed his bat toward the empty seats in the right field bleachers. Puckett, on the other hand, will never produce a video on hitting. He slashes away with unrestrained joy. High, low, outside, inside- it doesn't matter. Kirby Puckett never met a pitch he didn't like.

Kent Hrbek and Kirbyt. The tall lefty and the short right-hander travelled different roads, but together they became champions once again.Mike "Stretch" GelfandKQRS Morning Show