Graig Nettles (born August 20, 1944), nicknamed "Puff", is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. During a 22-year baseball career, he played for the Minnesota Twins (1967–1969), Cleveland Indians (1970–1972), New York Yankees (1973–1983), San Diego Padres (1984–1986), Atlanta Braves (1987), and Montreal Expos (1988). Nettles was one of the best defensive third basemen of all time, and despite his relatively low career batting average, he was an excellent offensive contributor, particularly in clutch moments with players in scoring position. In addition, he set an American League record for career home runs by a third baseman. His 68.0 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) is the highest among all players with a batting average of .250 or lower. As a part of four pennant-winning Yankee teams, Nettles enjoyed his best season in 1977 when he won the Gold Glove Award and had career-highs in home runs (37) and runs batted in (107) in leading the Yankees to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Early life Nettles was born and raised in San Diego, California. Nettles' unusual first name derives from his mother's dislike of the names Greg and Craig – and her combining the two to produce "Graig." "My dad was away at the war, so he didn't have any say." The name also led to confusion for baseball card companies; the error-prone inaugural 1981 Fleer baseball card set includes an error card where his name is spelled "Graig" on the front, and "Craig" on the back. Nettles graduated from San Diego High School in 1962 then attended San Diego State College on a basketball scholarship. and played for both the Aztecs' basketball and baseball teams. In 1964 and 1965, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League, helping to lead the team to two league championships. Career The Minnesota Twins drafted Nettles in the fourth round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. He made his MLB debut with the Twins on September 6, 1967. Nettles batted .222 in 96 games with the Twins in 1969. On December 10, 1969, the Twins traded Nettles with Dean Chance, Ted Uhlaender, and a player to be named later (PTBNL) to the Cleveland Indians for Luis Tiant and Stan Williams. After playing three seasons with the Indians, Nettles was acquired with Jerry Moses by the New York Yankees for John Ellis, Charlie Spikes, Rusty