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March 06, 2006
Kirby Puckett, RIP
Former Minnesota Twins centerfielder Kirby Puckett died today, and he was just 44 years old. I hope he will be remembered as an incredible ballplayer, and the kind of effervescent spirit that so often resides in baseball's centerfields. He was the kind of player, and personality we wish Barry Bonds et al. would have been.
Kirty Puckett is a baseball immortal, but was a mortal soul and flawed like the rest of us. The world may never know what it meant to him to lose baseball so suddenly; it may never know why Puckett behaved like he did, descending so fast. I'm not making excuses for Kirby Puckett but I always had the sense the guy lost his way that morning he woke up and couldn't see anything out of his right eye. I also didn't know the man and might do better than to speculate but his bizarre behavior - see Frank Deford's article - always struck me as the product of despair, rather than anything sinister or corrupt. We know that Puckett degenerated, but we'll never know enough about the guy to know why.
In the end, we're baseball fans because we like to believe those players still see the game the way we do, and play it knowing every last one of us would be out there if we had the chance. In that sense Kirby Puckett was everything a fan could hope for in a player. We should be grateful we had a chance to see him play. May he rest in peace.
UPDATE: Minnesota's John Hinderaker offers his perspective.
Posted by bill at March 6, 2006 08:46 PM
Comments
I remember being at the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Florida in late February, 1994 and seeing Kirby Puckett arrive for Spring Training. He was beseiged by kids, as one might imagine. I was there, too, but too old to be as openly enthusiastic as the screaming tots around me - even though I was.
"Sign this, Kirby!" "Can I have your autograph?"
The kids were mobbing him.
In that speacial unrehearsed way, Kirby beemed that world-class smile of his and said, "I gotta go to work now, but I'll see you later..."
True to his word, he did ... for almost an hour.
While Winfield and company were long gone, Puckett stood there, dirty, sweaty, signing every last autograph for every last kid - including THIS big kid.
That's what I remember ...
Posted by: andrew roman ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.citizen-journal.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 10, 2006 11:31 AM
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