Kirby Puckett

[fireflyab]

i've been really amazed by the response to kirby puckett's death all over the internet. i had no idea he would be so well remembered outside of minnesota! i've been surprisingly sad about the whole thing- mostly because i feel like i just can't explain how much he really meant to me as a kid and to the entire state - from his 12 years as a twin

Comments

[hotteensax]

Here is one of the better memoriams I've seen (not surprising since it's Baseball Prospectus). It too seems to gloss over the wrongs Puckett committed after his retirement, but it raises a possibly legitimate point that if Puckett had not been forced to retire prematurely, perhaps his life would not have desecended to the point it did. It's pointless to speculate, but for me, Sheehan's hint at that hypothetical fully drives home the millimeter-measured drama of baseball. It is unfortunate that this drama, in which millimeters usually mean the difference between pop outs and home runs, turned to tragedy for one of the most beloved players of our time.

[seanomatopoeia]

I'm having a hard time with the whole thing as well, for many of the points you brought up. Even after the strike and when I really fell out with baseball for breaking my heart, i still loved Mo Vaughn. I guess it was different for me, since his shortcoming, I guess, was out in the opening, since he really did love spending entire nights in seedy topless bars.

Puckett, on the other hand, seemed to have escaped from his terrible situation growing up, and turned into a model ballplayer. That he was guilty of domestic violence and sexual assault later was a cruel twist to what had been a wonderful legacy.

It pains me in a way, as you said, that the Barry Bonds situation happened directly following Puckett's death. Barry Bonds admitted to using steroids, and now we have proof that he used steroids. And yet, this gets more attention that someone one is guilty of sexual assault and domestic violence, because the latter was friendly with the media.

It's unfortunate how things are interpreted.

[moundie]

I'm sure that there is no small amount of apologist in me, but there are a few things that I keep in mind when I think about the tarnish on his legacy

[anticato146]

I was going to point out, until the previous poster beat me to it, that nothing was ever proven. But still, allegations like those don't usually spring from nothing, even if they are exaggerated, and this sounds like a pattern, so there may well be something to them. A lot of former sports players seem to get depression (I'm thinking of Jeff Reardon's situation a few months ago) and that may well have something to do with it.

But as you said, up until all that stuff surfaced, Kirby was a plain old-fashioned hero who really made you feel good about the game. They're calling him the greatest Twin ever, and I think I agree with that. There never was, and at the rate we're going probably never will be, anyone else like him. I don't think it's necessarily papering over some admittedly terrible acts near the end of his life to say that about the legacy of his baseball career.