Thirty years ago, game six, the bottom of the 11th inning with no outs. A stadium of 55,000 holding their breath, along with the rest of the state, Kirby Puckett up to bat. On a 2-1 count, Pucket loaded up, and hit a walk-off home run to keep the Minnesota Twins alive and force a game seven in the 1991 World Series.
To talk about the anniversary of the iconic game Tom Kelly and Kent Hrbek joined News Talk 830 WCCO's Chad Hartman.
When it comes to remembering the game that most in Minnesota have called the most significant sporting event in state history, Kelly only remembers the outcome.
"I can only try to speculate what the hell I was thinking about; I was hoping the players were ready to play," the former Twins manager said.
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For the former first baseman, Hrbek shared the team would have felt a lot better going into game six if they had left Atlanta with a victory, but nothing beat playing in the Metrodome.
"We had pretty good confidence in ourselves as far as playing at home," Hrbek said. "For some reason, that dome was magical as heck. We played some pretty good baseball games there."
With how intense and exciting the series had been, Hrbek said they had all thought it was anybody's series to win, and while down 3-2, all they could do was focus on game six.
"Game seven means nothing for us. We had to do game six first," Hrbek said. "There's no game seven if we don't win game six, so we were ready to play."
When it came to the famous statement from Puckett, "jump on my back," Hrbek shared that he gave the speech quite often because the team had to do it a lot of times.
"That was the way of Puck getting fired up or firing himself up to say 'I got this tonight, boys jump on,'" Hrbek said. "And boy, did we jump on for that game. Game six was the Puck show, that's for sure."
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When it came to what Puckett's manager saw, Kelly said that it wasn't anything new.
"Kirby pretty much said that on a regular basis. If he didn't say it, then you might be concerned," Kelly said.
However, Kelly didn't need to be concerned going into game six because Puckett showed up and delivered a special game that brought the Twins to game seven.
"Getting to the seventh game was really special. There's no question," Kelly said. "There's nothing like game seven, and being a part of it is quite remarkable for the upper midwest."
In the third inning, Hrbek remembered being at first when Ron Gant connected with a pitch and sent a hard hit ball into center field.
He recalled watching Puckett as he ran down the ball, making the leaping catch, saving a run from scoring.
"Kirby caught the ball like that a bunch of times," Hrbek said. "I don't if ever saw him make one like that up against the plexiglass… but to make one like he did that night, boy, that was a little different, and that's why Puck played center field."
Thirty years later, both Hrbek and Kelly still are asked about the game today.
Whether it be retelling stories in interviews or with people on the street, they both will never forget the game or the words that were muttered by broadcaster Jack Buck, "We will see you tomorrow night."
