Kirby Puckett

Wow. Kirby Puckett died today. To put his role in my life into perspecive, I've got a couple of posters of individual players on my wall. Kirby's poster is the biggest. It's the only one not taken out of a magazine or calender. It was a Christmas or a birthday gift way back when. I didn't have posters for a long time in my youth. I wanted one for my wall. I asked for a Kirby poster.

I was always a Mets fan, but for a long time, the Mets didn't have a single player that captured my imagination. So after Howard Johnson retired, Kirby became my favorite athlete. He was short and plump, but fast. He played center field improbably well. He hit for average and power.

But the best thing about him was that he was a good guy. Possibly the best guy in the game. He took less money to play in Minnesota forever. He was a great teammate. He was a winner. He was an overachiever. He played his heart out. He was a spectacular philanthropist.

Turned out he was far from perfect. I guess his dark side really took over after glaucoma forced him from the game - and our lives - far too soon. All sorts of dirty stories came out about him. Honestly, I'll never be more crushed to find out someone isn't all they seemed to be.

But whatya gonna do? Does the good stuff negate the bad stuff? No. Does the bad stuff negate the good stuff? No. Both sides were Kirby. And the baseball player was real.

Kirby Puckett single-handedly won Game 6 in 1991 to keep the Twins alive. How many baseball players have won a World Series game by themselves? That's awesome. That's his finest hour. That's Puck.