Kirby Puckett

[polksalet]

http://woolis.com/images/Fanfest2005/05fan...ckett&Lantz.jpg

[MikesVikes]

For what it's worth...

 

Answering the question of Kirby's age

Last update: March 06, 2006 – 8:21 PM

Printer friendly E-mail this story Kirby PuckettKirby Puckett died Monday at age 45, not 44.

The Star Tribune learned the truth of Puckett's actual age from Sean Harlin, the team's former media relations manager who now runs the club's video department.

 

The birthdate of March 14, 1961, that appeared in biographies distributed by the Twins during his playing days is a year off, but he never was concerned about correcting the original mistake.

 

A LexisNexis search confirmed the truth: Puck was born in March 1960, which made him 45 at the time of his death.

[Skrappy1]

[MikesVikes]

As I've mentioned many, many times, my youngest son was born in the early morning of the day Kirby hit his game 6 home run. It was a long day and I almost decided to leave the hospital before the game was over. It's an hour drive home and we were up most of the night. I decided to stay until the game was over. That was the most incredible finish to a day that I've ever had. I was crying on the way home after that game from the excitement and exhaustion of the day.

[MikesVikes]

The local tributes have been coming in most of the day. Kevin Garnett said that Kirby was like a brother. Just imagine a seven footer, 250 pounder and a 5'8" 400 pounder walking down the street and wondering if they were related.

[Outshined]

The local tributes have been coming in most of the day.  Kevin Garnett said that Kirby was like a brother.  Just imagine a seven footer, 250 pounder and a 5'8" 400 pounder walking down the street and wondering if they were related.

 

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He did so much for this town - its hard to believe he is gone.

[godtomsatan]

RIP Kirby.

[Skrappy1]

Found this excellent article from the Sporting News, it's from the day he retired but was re-posted today. The part I highlighted in bold I think shows why people loved Kirby:

  It's a measure of the character in both men, the way Dennis Martinez and Kirby Puckett came to a conference room in the Metrodome last Friday. Puckett came to announce that his playing days are finished. Martinez came to hear him say it.

 

Last September, a pitch from Martinez crushed the left side of Puckett's face. Whether the pitch had anything to do with the glaucoma that turned 20/20 vision into a 20/400 fog in Puckett's right eye is a subject of some conjecture. Publicly, its role is being downplayed. Privately, who can be absolutely certain the pitch's residual effect isn't a factor? In any event, the pitch was thrown during the last at-bat of Puckett's career. He didn't, and won't, play again.

 

As it happens, Cleveland played in Minneapolis last weekend, and a handful of Indians went to Puckett's news conference. Martinez, who is one of baseball's most honorable men, was among them. And Puckett, who is one of baseball's truest jewels, shone through one final time.

 

"Dennis Martinez sitting back there has taken a lot of crap for an accident that happened last year," Puckett said. "I'm telling you now, I love Dennis Martinez, and he didn't do it on purpose. I was just leaning in there too far. I was what you call cheating, and I couldn't get out of the way in time."

 

And so the game's most irrepressible spirit leaves with a class and a grace far too singular to professional sports. At its best, baseball is a kid's game. By playing it with the gladness of a child, Puckett, even at 35, never let us see anything but the best in baseball. How many players -- how many of us employed in any line of work, for that matter -- take the same barefaced delight in work that Puckett brought to the ballpark day after day after day?

 

Even baseball's other icons, from Cal Ripken to Ozzie Smith to Greg Maddux to Wade Boggs to Ken Griffey and beyond, don't play with the undisguised joy that radiated out of Puckett on a daily basis.

 

Ripken saved the game last season with the steadying influence of his consecutive-games streak, but his demeanor on the field, as well as off, is workmanlike, hardly gleeful. Ozzie, in the earlier years, was poetry in motion at shortstop. But his past and present battles with management and managers will leave a little stain on the way we remember his relationship to the game.

 

Maddux is a magician on the mound, but rarely are we witness to the enjoyment he takes in his work, as we were constantly with Kirby. The way Boggs swings is sweet, but the lesson learned in the Margo Adams Affair has put a cautious distance between Boggs and the game's public.

 

Griffey, Mo Vaughn and Frank Thomas come close among players who appear to have staying power at the top of the game, but the force of their fine personalities is a night light next to the way Puckett brightens up a room.

 

Elrod Hendricks, the longtime Orioles player and coach, said as much last weekend when he heard the news that Puckett's eye problems were to end his days in uniform. Hendricks, whose love for the game seems to bubble over at the drop of a bat, said, "What baseball really needs is another 600 Kirby Pucketts."

 

Only one man still playing lets the game wash over him with as much unreserved pleasure as Puckett. When Tony Gwynn leaves baseball, a little more of the game's life will leave with him, as the game lost a little of its vitality with Puckett's departure.

 

Gwynn, like Puckett, simply isn't able to keep a ballyard smile off his face, come hell, contract squabbles, injuries, work stoppages or high water. The same outpouring of affection for Gwynn should occur when and if his career, now in its 15th season, ever comes to a close. Perish the thought.

 

Neither Gwynn, who is on the disabled list with the Padres, nor Puckett played in the All-Star Game last week, the first time neither was on the field since 1983. Philadelphia put on a nice show without them, but from here, the usual All-Star jolliness lacked a little something, a spark, whatever. It could have been the National League's breezy 6-0 win, an anti-drama, but I think it was more than that. I noticed it even before Ripken verbalized it after the game, saying a number of players seemed to miss Puckett's presence.

 

I'll remember Puckett as a wonderful player, of course, charisma aside. He ought to be a Hall of Famer, no questions asked, on the strength of a .318 career batting average and his six Gold Gloves, even if his 2,304 hits and 207 home runs fall short of Cooperstown's generally accepted standards of 3,000 and 300.

 

When this season started, Puckett was fifth among active players in batting average, ninth in RBIs, 10th in doubles, 12th in hits and 14th in runs. And first in character and personality.

 

I'll remember October 26, 1991, too. A friend in the business, UPI's Rich Dubroff, keeps a detailed scorebook of playoff and World Series games. Last weekend, we pulled out his book from that night's Game 6 of the '91 Series. Puckett's 16-category line was jammed full with darn near everything one player can do in a game: a single, a triple, the game-winning home run in the bottom of the 11th, RBIs (three), runs scored, a sacrifice, a stolen base, put-outs (including his spectacular catch of a Ron Gant drive in the third inning). The only vacant lines were for doubles, errors, assists, walks (although the Braves walked him three times the next night in Game 7). And hit-by-pitches.

 

I wasn't close to the game when Ernie Banks retired in 1971, but I suspect maybe the loss wasn't felt so hard as Puckett's will be. Am I wrong in thinking baseball in Banks' time wasn't so hard-bitten by the bristly realities of the game in the 1990s? And that, consequently, Banks' irrepressible good will wasn't so badly needed then?

 

I do know this. Every day was a beautiful day for a Kirby Puckett ballgame or two. And I wonder if the days are going to be as nice from now on.

[Delicious_bass]

Very sad day here in Minny.

 

Was listening to KFAN this eve after the news broke and they played a tribute to Kirby. Nearly teared up when I heard Bob Casey's famous "Now batting for the Twins...the centerfielder...#34 Kirrrbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Puckett!" and Joe Buck's famous call of the Game 6 HR. You could hear the crowd going nuts and I could picture the scene like it happened yesterday.

 

So long Kirby.

[Outshined]

Found this excellent article from the Sporting News, it's from the day he retired but was re-posted today. The part I highlighted in bold I think shows why people loved Kirby:

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Nice article: this was also from his retirement speech:

 

"It's the last time you're going to see Kirby Puckett in a Twins uniform," he said. "I want to tell you all that I love you all so much."

 

The room was packed with reporters and Twins players. Puckett gave another pep talk: "I want my young teammates to know right now -- when you put the uniform on, you put it on and you play with pride and integrity. The way that Kent Hrbek plays with it -- played with it. And Paul Molitor and Knobby [Chuck Knoblauch] and all you guys play with it. Just don't take it for granted because you never know. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us."

 

He was always on the same level as everybody else and never thought he was better than anybody.

[Gdawg]

Rest in Peace Kirby. Thank you for everything you did, both on the field and off of it.

[TRU SOLDJA 22]

RIP Kirby

[Outshined]

Tribute planned Sunday at Metrodome

 

Last update: March 07, 2006 – 8:42 PM

 

 

•A public memorial service for Kirby Puckett is planned for 7 p.m. Sunday at the Metrodome, the Twins announced.

 

•The Metrodome gates will open at 6 p.m.

 

•There will be no charge, and seating is by general admission.

 

•The event will include testimonials from family, friends and baseball figures and video highlights featuring Puckett.

 

•A small, private visitation and memorial service will be held in the Twin Cities on Sunday afternoon.

[GWPFFL BrianW]

The service was emotional and heartfelt. Wouldn't be nice if all pro athletes had Kirby's mentality? Especially NBA players. To just play the game, and realize that you had a gift, and not act like the world owed them something. To realize that you get to play BASEBALL, or basketball, a game... for a living. Puckett had a book in the mid 90's, it was called "I love this game." He truly did, and as a life long Twins fan, I loved watching him play.