Rest in Peace Kirby

Yesterday, the baseball world lost one of it's greatest and I think it's only appropriate that we take a few minutes to remember Kirby Puckett the baseball player and Kirby Puckett the person.

I guess I should start by explaining who Kirby Puckett was to me. As a lifelong baseball fan, I've watched countless games on TV and listened to even more on the radio. I've attended hundreds of games in person in Toronto and I've been fortunate enough to attend games in many other MLB cities. I've been to Spring Training, the all-star game, playoff games, and I was even there when Joe touched 'em all. Since the age of 5, I've collected baseball cards, baseball stickers, baseball magazines, and anything else I could find related to the grand old game. As far as I can recall, baseball has been the one thing that I've been passionate about during my life. My childhood obsession with trading cards turned into an adult obsession with Fantasy baseball. You see, there's something about the stats, the numbers, the figures that just seems to resonate with me.

Yet as much as I love the numbers side of it, I've never really taken to the personalities in the game. I guess I've always looked at players as if they were the 2-dimensional images on a trading card. I've always found baseball players to be interesting and impressive, but I've never really idolized any kind of athlete. Other than the throwaway 'favourite players' we latch onto as children, I've never been one to consider a certain player my favourite. I've always felt that identifying a favourite player puts you in a position to be identified with that player. How a player defines himself and carries himself becomes some kind of reflection on how you define yourself (who your are or maybe who you want to be). In all my years of watching, listening, and following baseball, I've only had one favourite player. I've only identified with one player. I've only put myself out there by associating myself with one player. And that player was Kirby Puckett.

Growing up, Kirby Puckett was everything that you looked for in a role model. He was not a giant man, but the man was a giant. His enthusiasm, his energy, his humour, his demeanor, his class, his smile, and his talent made him stand out in my mind. We've never come close to having a Kirby Puckett in a Jays uniform. Imagine the talent of Robbie Alomar, mixed with the charisma of Joe Carter, and the attitude and enthusiasm of Pinball Clemons. Yet the thing that made him so likeable and endearing was the fact that he seemed like he could be one of us. He did not look like an athlete and he did not act like an athlete. He looked like the guy who was selling hot dogs out front of the Dome, not the guy leading his team to playoff victories inside. With his smile and his bowling ball physique, it's almost as if Kirby was a cartoon character out there. You couldn't help but love him and you couldn't help but cheer for him.

As a baseball player, he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer even though his career was cut short due to glaucoma. He was an MVP, a two-time World Series champion, a 10-time all-star, six-time Gold Glover, and the 1996 Roberto Clemente Award winner. As a teammate, he was just as supportive and friendly with the 25th guy as he was with the stars. As Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, "The thing you have to remember is, Puckett didn't separate people. Everyone had a chance to be his friend. You could have been star or a Joe off the street, it didn't matter.''

Like I said before, when you identify a favourite player, you become associated with that player. So as I've been going through some of the emails from friends consoling me on Puckett's passing, I must say that I'm still proud that people associate Kirby Puckett with me. My 6-month old son was curiously looking around the basement last week when his eyes became fixated on my #34 Twins jersey hanging on the wall. As I told him then, "you don't know who Kirby Puckett is yet, but as you get older I'll be sure to tell you all about him and what he meant to your Daddy". And hopefully as he learns about who Kirby Puckett was as a baseball player, he'll understand a little more about who his father is and some of the characteristics that he hopes his son grows up to have.


Addendum: By no means am I attempting to gloss over or ignore all of the negativity surrounding Kirby Puckett since he retired. For all of his success on the field, he had obvious failures off the field. Reports of infidelity and domestic abuse have certainly tarnished his image in the eyes of many (myself included to a degree). I think it just shows that he was human, and like all of us he was not perfect. But that's part of what made him so easy to relate to and pull for as a baseball player. He did not surround himself with handlers. He did not walk around with an entourage. He did not have 10 people working to keep his image squeaky clean. If Michael Jordan were to pass away tomorrow, he would be looked upon as the greatest athlete and sportsperson of our generation. But what about his gambling problems and his rumoured associations with known criminals? It's still OK for you to have MJ as a role model. If you sit back and wait to find a perfect person to look up to, you'll be waiting forever. It is our faults that make us truly human and I would think that we can continue to admire and respect the positive contributions of someone like Kirby Puckett without approving of his failures.