Kirby Puckett grew up in the projects of Chicago's South Side, in a neighborhood he said was nicknamed "Where Hope Goes to Die," yet he played baseball, and lives life, with a contagious, enthusiastic passion.

At 5'8", scouts and managers repeatedly told Puckett he was too small to make it in the major leagues, yet he was a first ballot Hall of Fame electee in January, and helped the Minnesota Twins to two World Series Championships.

Puckett, who played his entire 12-year career with the Minnesota Twins, was hit in the face with a pitch in September of 1995, the next spring was diagnosed with glaucoma and forced to retire, (he is now blind in his right eye), and in the last 18 months two of his brothers died. But he said he wakes up every day happy to be alive, and he added he's always been able to handle any adversity because he faces it head on.

"I'm not going to let glaucoma, or anything else, get me down," said Puckett during his orientation visit to the Hall of Fame last Thursday morning. "I just thank God I'm not a Cyclops, then I might get depressed about being blind in one eye."

Puckett, a 10-time All Star, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame Aug. 5 along with fellow first year inductee Dave Winfield, and Veterans Committee selections Bill Mazeroski and Hilton Smith.

Puckett was the youngest of nine children, and what set him apart was that he had a dream.

"I remember turning on the television when I was about five and seeing Ernie Banks and Billy Williams and saying to myself 'I want to be a baseball player,"' Puckett said. "Right then my mind was made up, and 18 years later I accomplished that dream."

Puckett played baseball with child-like enthusiasm, and his first visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame was no different.

"Wow," he'd say when viewing an exhibit, "this is neat. Isn't this great?" he'd ask either his son, Kirby Jr., daughter Catherine or wife Tonya, who all toured the museum with him.

While touring the museum with Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey and curator Ted Spencer as well as a group of sports writers and photographers, Puckett, a baseball history buff, was especially delighted to see an exhibit which featured Hack Wilson. Wilson, the 5'6" player who in 1930 hit 56 home runs and drove in 190 runs, a major league record. Puckett had a picture of Wilson taped to his locker during his playing days. Puckett was also delighted to see Ernie Banks' plaque in the Hall of Fame Gallery.

"I'm pretty overwhelmed," he said after the tour. "I never thought about the Hall of Fame and to think my name might be mentioned along with Bob Gibson and Ernie Banks and Willie Stargell...that's something."

Puckett had been to Cooperstown on one other occasion, when his Twins played the California Angels in the annual Hall of Fame Game, and remembered throwing baseballs to kids in the outfield stands.

"I cost major league baseball a lot of money that day," Puckett joked.

Now 41, Puckett will be the third youngest player inducted into the Hall of Fame.

"To be a part of this group, part of the Hall of Fame family and be immortalized for life, that's the crowning moment," Puckett said. "I told my son that when he grows up and his Dad's not around anymore, he can come here and see my plaque and remember the things I accomplished. I may not start on this team, but I'd be a pretty good cheerleader."

Puckett said being a father is his top priority now.

"My mother always used to tell me 'Where you're trying to go, I've already been,' and that's what I tell my kids," Puckett said. "I appreciate everything so much more now that I'm a little older. I enjoy watching my kids, smelling flowers, going fishing. I appreciate everything everyday."

Puckett is a good friend of Winfield's, and said the two met when Puckett was a rookie and Winfield was already a veteran player for the New York Yankees.

"We were playing in Yankee Stadium, and I was running in from the outfield and he was running out, and he said 'Hey, rook, after the game we're going to dinner," Puckett recalled. "At first I thought he was joking, but we went out and we didn't talk about baseball, we talked about responsibility and how I should give to charity and just about life. Then we talked about baseball. We've been close ever since."

Winfield, who was born in Minnesota, and Puckett wound up teammates late in Winfield's career. It was as a member of the Twins that Winfield got his 3,000th career hit, scoring Puckett with a single.

Puckett was the first player to make $3 million a year, but said money is not what's important.

"When the cheering stops, some players have a hard time adjusting, and others think having money is the answer to everything," Puckett said. "Forget the money. If I could have one thing I'd like to be 21-years-old for the rest of my life. I'd like to be young forever. But that's not the way it works."

Unless your plaque hangs in the Hall of Fame.