Thanks Kirby
Baseball lost a hero today. Kirby Puckett passed away today (March 6th) after suffering a stroke at his home in Arizona on Sunday (March 5). As a man who touched many lives and provided so much hope for little kids throughout Minnesota I can only say thank you Kirby.
Minnesota is a relatively quiet place. It rests inside the U.S. a long way from anything really by global standards. So it doesn't get a lot of national exposure. It was here Kirby spent his entire career leading the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. I grew up on Kirby. He was what baseball was for a kid in Minnesota in those years. It was Kirby who kept me up late into the night in October 91 to see the Twins survive game 6 and eventually game 7.
During high school a friend and myself made the 2 hour drive from our home town to catch a Twins game at Metrodome. It was 1995 and the Twins were a long way out of the race so the Dome was empty and you could get as close as you wanted to the field. The building had that hollow feel to it so you could hear every word spoken. We hung out down the right field line where Kirby was playing. As he trotted out to his position he waved up at us and gave our two man section a big smile. Midway through the first he started talking to us, asking us where we were from and if we were having a good time. We asked him if he wanted some of our Bazooka bubble gum, a dumb teenage way of connecting with greatness. He laughed and said yes so we tossed him a piece and he smiled. Kirby understood what he was doing, he was entertaining all of us, one person at a time.
A few years later while I was working as a groundskeeper at Metrodome Kirby was filming a commercial for Glaucoma awareness. A disease which shortened his career leading him to take a position in the Twins front office. He had down time during the shoot and sat down in the dugout where I was sweeping up sunflower seeds and dirt from the night before. He asked, "Hey, how's it goin' man? You like this job?" "Yeah" I replied with awe, "for the most part". "You wanna switch jobs with me?" He continued with a big smile on his face. I asked, "So what exactly do you do all day?" He just smiled and laughed. I guess there is no way to verball describe a job that revolves around just being Kirby.
If there is one lesson Kirby instilled in me as a player and as a man, it was to keep on hustlin'. Never did Kirby dog it on a ground ball. Day after day, night after night that is one of the most difficult things to maintain in the game, always hustle, always try, even when the odds are stacked against you. This was Kirby's niche.
Thank you Kirby for the wonderful memories and all the lessons. You will be missed.
Minnesota is a relatively quiet place. It rests inside the U.S. a long way from anything really by global standards. So it doesn't get a lot of national exposure. It was here Kirby spent his entire career leading the Twins to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. I grew up on Kirby. He was what baseball was for a kid in Minnesota in those years. It was Kirby who kept me up late into the night in October 91 to see the Twins survive game 6 and eventually game 7.
During high school a friend and myself made the 2 hour drive from our home town to catch a Twins game at Metrodome. It was 1995 and the Twins were a long way out of the race so the Dome was empty and you could get as close as you wanted to the field. The building had that hollow feel to it so you could hear every word spoken. We hung out down the right field line where Kirby was playing. As he trotted out to his position he waved up at us and gave our two man section a big smile. Midway through the first he started talking to us, asking us where we were from and if we were having a good time. We asked him if he wanted some of our Bazooka bubble gum, a dumb teenage way of connecting with greatness. He laughed and said yes so we tossed him a piece and he smiled. Kirby understood what he was doing, he was entertaining all of us, one person at a time.
A few years later while I was working as a groundskeeper at Metrodome Kirby was filming a commercial for Glaucoma awareness. A disease which shortened his career leading him to take a position in the Twins front office. He had down time during the shoot and sat down in the dugout where I was sweeping up sunflower seeds and dirt from the night before. He asked, "Hey, how's it goin' man? You like this job?" "Yeah" I replied with awe, "for the most part". "You wanna switch jobs with me?" He continued with a big smile on his face. I asked, "So what exactly do you do all day?" He just smiled and laughed. I guess there is no way to verball describe a job that revolves around just being Kirby.
If there is one lesson Kirby instilled in me as a player and as a man, it was to keep on hustlin'. Never did Kirby dog it on a ground ball. Day after day, night after night that is one of the most difficult things to maintain in the game, always hustle, always try, even when the odds are stacked against you. This was Kirby's niche.
Thank you Kirby for the wonderful memories and all the lessons. You will be missed.
posted by Andy Johnson at 1:01 AM
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