Winfield, Puckett Lead Hall Names

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett spent two seasons together on the Minnesota Twins. Soon, they might be teammates again â€” as Hall of Famers. <br><br>Voting results were scheduled to

Tuesday, January 16th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” Dave Winfield and Kirby Puckett spent two seasons together on the Minnesota Twins. Soon, they might be teammates again â€” as Hall of Famers.

Voting results were scheduled to be announced at 2 p.m. EST Tuesday, with Winfield and Puckett leading the list of 17 first-time candidates on the ballot.

Don Mattingly, Kirk Gibson and Lou Whitaker also were eligible for the first time. Jim Rice, Gary Carter and relievers Goose Gossage and Bruce Sutter are among the 15 holdover hopefuls.

``I've done everything I think I possibly can on the field, and now I have to wait for people to vote on my destiny,'' Puckett said. ``That's weird. Usually, I have my destiny in my own hands.''

To be elected, players must be picked on 75 percent of ballots in voting by 10-year members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Induction ceremonies will be held Aug. 5 at Cooperstown, N.Y. The festivities will include anyone selected by the Veterans Committee on March 6 at Tampa, Fla.

Winfield seemed destined for stardom from the day he was born â€” Oct. 3, 1951, the afternoon when Bobby Thomson hit one of the most famous home runs ever.

A multisport standout at the University of Minnesota, Winfield was drafted by the San Diego Padres, the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL, the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and the Utah Stars of the ABA.

He chose baseball, and without spending a single day in the minor leagues, went on to become a 12-time All-Star. He finished with 3,110 hits, 465 home runs and five Gold Gloves in the outfield.

Overall, he batted .283 with 1,833 RBIs. He played from 1973-95, and returned from back surgery that sidelined for the entire 1989 season.

Winfield's toughest choice might be deciding which cap to wear on his Hall plaque â€” he became a star with the Padres, gained national recognition with the New York Yankees, delivered the game-winning hit in the 1992 World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays and got his 3,000th hit with his hometown Twins.

He has not said, although he played the longest for the Yankees. And he has patched up his long-running feud with owner George Steinbrenner, the man who labeled him ``Mr. May.''

Winfield is among 24 players with 3,000 hits. He reached the mark in 1993 with an RBI single off Dennis Eckersley that drove in Puckett.

Every eligible player to hit that milestone has made the Hall. Once again, Pete Rose is off the ballot because of his permanent banishment from baseball.

Still, it was a hit that does not show up in Winfield's career total that meant the most to him. And no, it was not the time he hit a seagull with a warmup throw in Toronto in 1983, leading to his arrest.

Winfield's two-out, two-run double in the top of the 11th inning in Game 6 of the 1992 World Series clinched Toronto's championship over Atlanta. It was his only extra-base hit in 44 Series at-bats.

``It was just a lousy double,'' he recalled years later. ``That hit, it just made everything right.''

That double came off Braves reliever Charlie Leibrandt. In 1991, Leibrandt also served up Puckett's most famous hit â€” an 11th-inning home run that won Game 6 of the World Series. The Twins won the title the next day.

Puckett was a 10-time All-Star and won six Gold Gloves in center field. He hit .318 from 1984-95, all with the Twins, until his career was cut short by glaucoma.

Puckett hit 207 home runs and recorded more hits (2,040) in his first 10 seasons than any other player in the 20th century.

Plus, he exuded boundless energy and enthusiasm, making him a fan favorite at the Metrodome and everywhere else.

``I played the game hard. I tried to remember the Jackie Robinsons, the Dave Winfields, all the people who came before me who allowed me to be in my position,'' he said.

Mattingly was a six-time All-Star and won nine Gold Gloves at first base. He hit .307 and hit 222 home runs while playing for the Yankees from 1982-95 â€” he joined them a year after they reached the World Series and retired because of a back problem a year before they returned.

Mattingly's career statistics are remarkably close to Puckett's â€” in fact, they both had a .363 on-base average.

Puckett played 1,783 games, had 1,085 RBIs, scored 1,071 runs and had a .477 slugging percentage. Mattingly played 1,785 games, had 1,099 RBIs, scored 1,007 runs and had a .471 slugging percentage.

Even so, Puckett was considered a likely candidate for election, while Mattingly was regarded as a longer shot.

While Puckett led the Twins to two unlikely championships, Donnie Baseball played a power position and did not post huge power numbers. The Yankees' captain never reached 90 RBIs or 20 homers in any of his last six years.

Gibson and Whitaker helped take the Detroit Tigers to the 1984 World Series title. In 1988, Gibson tagged Eckersley for a dramatic, pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the ninth inning that sent Los Angeles over Oakland in Game 1 and toward the Series crown.

Rice (.298, 382 homers), Carter (324 homers), Gossage (310 saves) and Sutter (300 saves) have never received enough support. Nor have Tommy John (288 wins), Bert Blyleven (287 wins), Jim Kaat (283 wins) or Dale Murphy (398 homers, two MVP awards).