Today is not the day to remember the repeated allegations of sexual improprieties by Kirby Puckett, today let us remember the ball player who for 12 years brought a joy to the game of baseball. When we looked at the rotund 5-foot-8, 230-pound body of Puckett we didn’t see the classic athletic build of his teammate Dave Winfield, we saw one of us. We saw what could have been one of the guys who we play ball with Sunday afternoons in the park.
That is until we saw what the man could do with a baseball.
He brought joy and pleasure not only to his legions of Minnesota Twins fans who adored watching Puckett, but to fans of every team. He was no Joe DiMaggio look alike in centerfield but when Puckett retired following the 1995 season, with a .318 career average, it was the highest career batting average for a right-handed batter since DiMaggio retired with a .325 average.
In his very first game in the majors, he had four hits and by the time his career came to a premature end he had hit 207 home runs, drove home 1,085 runners and stole 134 stolen bases. He finished with 2,304 hits and his 2,040 hits in his first 10 years were more than any other player in the 20th century.
Every year seemed to bring another year of brilliance. In 1986, he was an All-Star, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger, playing in 161 games for the second straight season while hitting .328 to finish 3rd in the league (to Wade Boggs), 3rd in the league in slugging (to Don Mattingly), 2nd in runs (to Rickey Henderson), 2nd in hits and total bases (once again to Mattingly), and his 31 homers were 6th (to Jesse Barfield). In that year, NBC announcer Bob Costas jokingly promised that if Puckett was batting over .350 when his child was born he would name his kid Kirby. That’s the story behind Keith Kirby Costas.
Somehow that season paled in comparison the following year when Kirby again was an All-Star, Gold Glove winner, and Silver Slugger and hit .332, led the league in hits, finished 3rd in total bases, and hit 28 homers as he drove home 99 runs. But Twins fans can barely remember the regular season of Puckett after his .357 batting average led the Twins to a seven-game victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in one of baseball’s great World Series.
In 1988, Puck hit .356 with 24 home runs and 121 RBI, and for the second straight season finished third in MVP voting. The next year he “slumped” to .339, only good enough to win the batting crown.
1990 brought a rare year for Puckett hitting under .300 when he finished at .298 and the Twins finished in last place, but Kirby was just setting up his fans for a fabulous 1991. Kirby was in year six of his 11 straight All-Star appearances, and he won his fifth of six Gold Gloves. His .319 batting average was good enough for 8th in the league and he led his Twins from a worst-to-first rebound into the post-season.
In 1991, the Twins first faced the favored Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series and Minnesota prevailed in 5 games. Puckett hit .429 with two home runs and six RBI to win MVP honors. But while America was answering Michael Jackson’s musical question “Black or White”, the Twins were singing the praises of Kirby in arguably one of the greatest World Series of all time. The Atlanta Braves had also climbed from last place the previous year to reach the Series versus the Twins and held a three games to two lead entering Game 6. In the 3rd inning, Puckett made one of the Series great defensive plays making a leaping catching against the plexiglass wall of the Metrodome robbing Ron Gant of extra bases. Fast forward to the bottom of the 11th and Puckett leading off for the Twins facing Charlie Liebrandt, "And we'll see you... TOMORROW NIGHT!" was the call made by Jack Buck in describing the greatest walk-off homer in Twins history. The next night in Game 7, Minnesota's Jack Morris and Atlanta's John Smoltz engaged in spectacular pitching duel with Black Jack winning 1-0 in 10 innings to give the Twins the championship.
Puckett played on, and played brilliantly, even winning the RBI title in 1994. But, almost exactly 10 years ago, on March 28, 1996, Kirby Puckett woke up that Spring Training morning unable to see in his right eye. Diagnosed with glaucoma, this bright star’s career was over. At the press conference announcing his retirement, Puckett said, "I was told I would never make it because I'm too short. Well, I'm still too short, but I've got 10 All-Star games, two World Series championships, and I'm a very happy and contented guy. It doesn't matter what your height is, it's what's in your heart."
We look at this round little ballplayer and we remember that he was the last player to hit for the cycle for the Twins. We recall that he had six hits in a game…twice. He was the last player to win three consecutive hits titles, and one of only three AL players ever to have done it. He was on the 1986 All-Star team with fellow Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield; and in 1987 with Cal Ripken; 1988 he again played with Rickey Henderson; 1989 with Bo Jackson; 1990 with Mark McGwire; 1991 with Ken Griffey, Jr.; 1992 with Robbie Alomar; 1993 against Barry B*nds; 1994 with Pudge Rodriguez; and 1995, against Tony Gwynn, just to name a few of the stars who were hardly his peer. But whomever Puckett played with or against, Kirby held more than his own, he held your attention, he brought a smile to your face, he gave you hope and faith in the game he loved.
Puckett said, "Baseball doesn't owe me a thing. I owe my whole life to baseball." Today, baseball, and all of us who were touched by his luminosity should remember how much we owe Kirby for all the pleasure he brought to the game, and nothing more than that.
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