We want to believe superheroes never die
Larger-than-life characters aren’t supposed to grow old before our eyes. Or become frail. Or make mistakes. Or have an aura that dims. More than anything, they’re not supposed to die at a young age.
The enduring picture I have of Kirby Puckett is of him rounding the bases after hitting the game-winning home run in Game Six of the 1991 World Series. The pure joy that radiated from him is one of the seminal moments in Minnesota sports history and certainly in the history of the Minnesota Twins franchise. That the Twins would go on to defeat the Atlanta Braves in Game Seven only added to the legend of Puckett’s home run. Yes, the Twins have won more World Series titles (two) since 1987 than the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox, and the Atlanta Braves. To say that Kirby Puckett was the cornerstone of those Twins teams wouldn’t begin to capture the Puckett’s importance to the franchise and indeed the entire state of Minnesota.
I’m not being on hero worship, and I’m generally not impressed by celebrity, but few, if any, baseball fans in Minnesota didn’t admire Kirby Puckett. Puckett played the game the way it was supposed to be played- hard, fair, and with passion. He always seemed to have a smile on his face, and he played a kid’s game with a kid’s joie de vivre.
In the early ’90s, I was living in Portland, OR. The AAA Portland Beavers were the top farm club for the Twins, and once a year they came to Portland for an exhibition game against the Beavers. No matter what else was going on, I made certain I was at the game. One year, I was running a temperature of 103, so sick that I missed work, but not so sick that I couldn’t go see Kirby Puckett and the Twins. It was an exhibition game, which is always a pain for players, but Puckett played without complaint, because he knew that the fans wanted so see him. Some players look at interacting with fans as an inconvenience. Puckett seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.
When I heard that Puckett had suffered a massive stroke in Arizona, I was surprised. He’s the same age as I am. We were both born in 1960, and frankly 45 is too young for a male to suffer a stroke. When I learned that he had died, I was shocked. When a contemporary dies, especially one as talented and exuberant as Puckett, it tends to get your attention. Kirby Puckett was far too young to leave us as he did.
Puckett’s career ended far too soon. After contracting glaucoma in 1996, Puckett retired with a lot of baseball still left in him. Since he left the scene, Puckett’s public life has been a challenge, though his smile never seemed to fade. Kirby Puckett was as imperfect and flawed as any one of us, perhaps moreso, but the past ten years haven’t exactly been fair to him.
To understand just how tremendously popular Puckett was in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest, you could find out how many parents named their children “Kirby”, or how many dog owners named their dogs “Kirby”. Kirby Puckett was the smiling face of the Minnesota Twins throughout his all to short career. In the same way that people identifed the Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, Kirby Puckett was the public face of the Twins. Fans loved him, children adored him…and all he did was smile and play hard.
I hope the Twins will find a suitable way to memorialize Puckett. He is the single biggest reason the franchise is still in Minnesota, and even now, when many fans think of the Minnesota Twins, they think of Kirby Puckett, even though he has played for the team since 1995.
You’ll have to pardon me if I’m feeling a bit somber today. A bit of my childhood just left the builiding….
