Wow. That was my initial reaction when I saw the headline on MLB.com announcing that Kirby Puckett had passed away Monday, one day after suffering a massive stroke. He was 45.
Rather than trying to encapsulate Puckett’s Hall of Fame career or discuss (again) the ugly details of his personal life, I figured I’d post some of the quotes I found about Puckett from various baseball people:
“If we had to lose and if one person basically was the reason…you didn’t mind it being Kirby Puckett. When he made the catch and when he hit the home run (in the 1991 World Series), you could tell the whole thing had turned. His name just seemed to be synonymous with being a superstar. It’s not supposed to happen like this.” -John Smoltz
“There was no player I enjoyed playing against more than Kirby. He brought such joy to the game. He elevated the play of everyone around him.” -Carlton Fisk
“There are a lot of great players in this game, but only one Kirby. It was his character that meant more to his teammates. He brought a great feeling to the clubhouse, the plane, everywhere.” -Rick Aguilera
“This is a sad day for the Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere. Kirby’s impact on the Twins organization, state of Minnesota and the upper midwest is significant and goes well beyond his role in helping the Twins win two World Championships.” -Twins owner Carl Pohland
“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I am terribly saddened by the sudden passing of Kirby Puckett. He was a Hall of Famer in every sense of the term. He played his entire career with the Twins and was an icon in Minnesota. But he was revered throughout the country and will be remembered wherever the game is played.” -Bud Selig
FoxSports.com also has a nice photo career retrospective of Kirby’s playing days.
I will say this: Despite all the dirt that was revealed about him following his premature retirement (and, sadly, there was a lot), there haven’t been many players in the history of baseball who were easier to root for than Kirby Puckett. If you liked baseball, you loved watching Puckett play. Period. He was always smiling, always hustling, always playing his ass off. His heroics in the 1991 World Series were legendary and were most likely the main reason he got elected into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot 10 years later. If only more of today’s players played the game the way Kirby did.
His career numbers: .318 / 207 HR / 1,085 RBI / 2,304 hits / 414 doubles / 134 steals. He still stands as the Twins’ franchise leader in hits, doubles, total bases (3,453), at-bats (7,244) and runs (1,071).
