RIP Kirby Puckett
Posted: Tue Mar 07, 2006 12:03 amI don't know how many baseball fans are out there, but I've been a baseball fan for the vast majority of my life. Ever since those 1989 playoffs where the Cubs lost to the Reds (damn that Kevin Mitchell) I've been (at the time trying to) following baseball an awful lot. I remember that for both my brother and I, one of our favorite players in the game was Kirby Puckett.
He was always a great joy to watch. Five feet eight inches tall and 212 pounds, he was a rather round figure who could run surprisingly fast and jump surprisingly high, which helped him make many great catches in center field. The guy put his all into every play that he was involved with, rather it was in the field or at the plate, and it showed. He retired with some very impressive career numbers, hitting well over .300 for his career with over 200 home runs (no huge number, even by those standards, but he was mainly a hitter for average), and I believe, the winner of six, count 'em, six golden gloves.
Outside of his playing though, he was known for his genorosity as a person, known for being that one player that would go and talk to kids who would watch him, known also for hanging out with the kids and families of his teammates and treating them all very well. Many, many people today have to grieve the loss of this wonderful person, and as someone who got so much joy just watching him, I cannot imagine the hurt that those who knew him are going through today.
He'll live forever in my heart, and I hope there's others here that got to enjoy the life that he lived. RIP Kirby, you'll be missed.
He was always a great joy to watch. Five feet eight inches tall and 212 pounds, he was a rather round figure who could run surprisingly fast and jump surprisingly high, which helped him make many great catches in center field. The guy put his all into every play that he was involved with, rather it was in the field or at the plate, and it showed. He retired with some very impressive career numbers, hitting well over .300 for his career with over 200 home runs (no huge number, even by those standards, but he was mainly a hitter for average), and I believe, the winner of six, count 'em, six golden gloves.
Outside of his playing though, he was known for his genorosity as a person, known for being that one player that would go and talk to kids who would watch him, known also for hanging out with the kids and families of his teammates and treating them all very well. Many, many people today have to grieve the loss of this wonderful person, and as someone who got so much joy just watching him, I cannot imagine the hurt that those who knew him are going through today.
He'll live forever in my heart, and I hope there's others here that got to enjoy the life that he lived. RIP Kirby, you'll be missed.