"Tell me: When a dark side is revealed in a man, does that render all the good that man did as untrue?" -Bob Costas, from Ralph Wiley's 2003 column about Kirby Puckett, "Trial and Error"
Word has come that Hall of Fame outfielder Kirby Puckett has died just a day after suffering a stroke. He was 45.
Puckett came out nowhere in 1986. After hitting a total of 4 homers in 2 years with the Twins, he suddenly was a star: hitting 31 homers and hitting .328 for Minnesota. The next year he'd lead the Twins to a World Championship and 4 years later in 1991 they'd do it again. But four more years later Puckett's career was suddenly over from glaucoma.
After his retirement, Puckett had a harder time. He was charged with sexual assault, and Frank Deford took time out to do a hatchet job on Puckett in Sports Illustrated. But Puckett was exonerated. Unfortunately, as so often happens the press didn't talk about the final result as much as they did the initial accusation.
Puckett, who had been a media darling for years, withdrew from public life after that episode. He wasn't a guy you'd look at and think "I bet he's gonna be a star". But he was.
You can see Kirby Puckett's Hall of Fame Biography video by clicking here.
3/06/2006
Puckett Dead at 45
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7 Comments:
Can't speak for all the off the field issues, was a great player and I liked watching him play. However, he crushed my dreams in that 10 inning game 7, 1991 World Series.
There's a difference between getting found "not guilty" and being exonerated.
Great player, sure, but a waste as a human being.
Who knows what the truth was? Who really cares? Puckett is just another example of the media building up a guy, then trying to tear him down. I liked Kirby, and always will, smear tactics be damned.
Not everyone lives a life without a few blemishes. I think we have to give him a little bit of a benefit of a doubt because of the way he presented himself on the field. He had a good repuation and I think he deserves a little sympathy.
Kirby bashers don't know what they are talking about. The Sports Illustrated piece was real groundbreaking: Look! Kirby Puckett's ex-wife has bad things to say about him! Stunner.
Puckett was a legend. How many of the rest of us are?
Times like this make me question God. He cut his career short, then
his life. A wonderful soul we will miss him tremendously.
I know nothing about the man other than what he did between the white lines.
He played the game with unbridled enthusiasm and the appearance of joy that most professional athletes seem to lose.
2 rings and The Hall of Fame - RIP Kirby.
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