More On Puckett

Early this morning, I stopped by the library in my school building to pick up my daily StarTribune. It was everywhere -- the death of Kirby Puckett, the most recogizable figure in Minnesota sports history.

It's still humbling. A baseball player, a Hall of Famer, who seemed to be an immortal on the field can be cut down in an instant. I cannot help compare Puck's similarities to the Yankee great Lou Gehrig, who died from ALS, or the disease that eventually took his name. Gehrig was young also, cut down in his prime from one of the greatest dynasties ever in baseball history. Seems ironic now that when Puck made his retirement speech to the the Metrodome crowd, he quoted Gehrig saying, "I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Both players would not see their great careers last as they should have, both players cut down by tragedy.

Watching ESPN last night and even reading the paper this morning, it was all tastefully done. Folks in Minnesota, when it comes to sports, do not have a lot to cheer for compared to the super-teams like the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox. Everybody in Minnesota with their Midwestern-like values kept Puck to heart. It just seemed strange to me that Puck just wasn't in the Minnesotans hearts, either.

He was just truly a great baseball player. Back in the day at Centennial Park in my home town, we would try to imitate Puck by robbing home runs over the fence. For a guy who only stood 5 foot, 8 inches tall, that guy had some serious ups.

Overall, it was just nice to see that Puckett was well known outside the state of Minnesota. Then I thought, how could you ignore a player like that -- with a smile and a passion to play the game?