A Sad Day For Baseball

A person, or a fan of the Minnesota Twins during the 1980's and into the early 1990's could not help shed a tear tonight of hearing the tragic news of the passing of Kirby Puckett.

Puck suffered a major stroke on Sunday morning and then succumbed today at the age of 45.

I got up close and personal to Kirby in 1986 during a Twins photo day on the Metrodome surface. Back in the day, they would let the fans approach the players, stand right next to them and have their picture taken. I could get close to any player on the Twins roster that season, but when Kirby and Kent Hrbek came around, you could barely get near them because they were literally mobbed. My parents pushed my brother and I to at least get next to Puckett, but we managed. The only thing we got was a quick picture of Dan and I standing next to Puck.

The next season, 1987 -- it was one hell of a year, with the Twins winning their first World Series championship. The picture was at my grandparent's farm during Game 6 of the 1987 World Series, when the Twins played the St. Louis Cardinals.

But it was 1991 when I remembered Game 6 and Puckett literally carried the game. Puck robbed Ron Gant of an extra-base hit off the plexi-glass in left-center field and finally capped off the game with a home run in the 10th inning. I just remember Puck running around those bases, pumping his fists. It was absolutely nuts.

Now days, when you're in an empty Metrodome, you'll see a lonely golden seat in the left-center field where Puckett hit his home run in that Game 6 in 1991.

Everybody knows about his glaucoma and his retirement troubles, but that didn't stop the fans in Minnesota from loving the best player to put on a Twins uniform. I cannot help think that his increasing weight problems probably could have contributed to his stroke. The media must have killed him after the divorce and the sexual assault charges.

Overall, the guy was just a stud. His number retired, a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Today's generation has Torii Hunter. My generation had Kirby Puckett.

He will be sorely missed.