Puhl, Terry (1956-)

Born in Melville on July 8, 1956, Terry Puhl was a dependable outfielder for fourteen seasons with the Houston Astros. He played bantam and midget league Baseball in Melville, and signed with Houston as a non-drafted free agent in 1973. Puhl spent four seasons in the team's farm system before being called up to the majors in 1977. He made an immediate impact with a seventeen-game hitting streak, earning a place in the Astro's everyday lineup. Known for his outstanding defensive abilities, Puhl is in the top three all-time for fielding percentage by an outfielder who has played 1,000 games or more. He committed a minuscule eighteen errors in 2,596 chances for a .993 percentage. A 1978 National League All-Star, Puhl and the Astros won the NL West Division pennant in 1980. Although the team later lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, Puhl batted an impressive .526 in the NL Championship Series. Granted free agency by the Astros in 1990, Puhl was signed and released by the New York Mets. He spent his final season with the Kansas City Royals in 1991. In fifteen major league seasons, he played in 1,531 games with a career batting average of .280. He is second in games played and stolen bases by Canadian-born players. Terry Puhl was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and in the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Daria Coneghan, Holden Stoffel