Kirby Puckett

Anthony Kirby Puckett (March 14, 1960 – March 6, 2006) was a professional Major League Baseball center fielder who spent his entire 12-year baseball career playing with the Minnesota Twins (1984–1995) and is the Twins franchise's all-time leader in career hits, runs, doubles, and total bases. At the time of his retirement, his .318 career batting average was the highest by any right-handed American League batter since Joe DiMaggio.

Puckett was the fourth baseball player during the 20th century to record 1,000 hits in his first five full calendar years in Major League Baseball, and was the second to record 2,000 hits during his first ten full calendar years. After being forced to retire at age 35 due to loss of vision in one eye from a central retinal vein occlusion, Puckett was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001, his first year of eligibility.

Early life
Puckett was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Robert Taylor Homes, a housing project on Chicago's South Side (the escape from which he frequently referred back to during his career). He attended and played baseball for Calumet High School. After receiving no scholarship offers following graduation, Puckett at first went to work on an assembly line for Ford Motor Company. However he was given a chance to attend Bradley University and after one year transferred to Triton College. Despite his under-sized 5' 8" frame, the Minnesota Twins selected him in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1982 MLB Draft.

After signing with the team, he was assigned to the rookie-league Elizabethton Twins in the Appalachian League where he immediately showed why the Twins considered him so highly, hitting .382, with 3 home runs, 35 RBI, and 43 steals, in only 65 games, albeit against predominantly younger players. In 1983, Puckett was promoted to the Single-A Visalia Oaks in the California League and although his average was not as high as the previous year—he still hit an impressive .318, with 9 home runs, 97 RBI, and 48 stolen bases over 138 games—and continued to turn heads in the organization. After being promoted to AAA Toledo to start the 1984 season, Puckett was brought up to the majors for good 21 games into the season.

Major League Baseball career
Puckett's major league debut came on May 8 against the California Angels, a game in which he went 4 for 5 with one run. That year, Puckett hit .296 and was fourth in the American League in singles. In 1985, Puckett hit .288 and finished fourth in the league in hits, third in triples, second in plate appearances, and first in at bats. Throughout his career, Puckett would routinely appear in the top 10 in the American League in such offensive statistical categories as games played, at bats, singles, doubles, and total bases and such defensive stats as putouts, assists, and fielding percentage for league center fielders.

In 1986, Puckett began to emerge as more than just a singles hitter. With an average of .328, Puckett was elected to his first all-star game and he finished the season seventh in doubles, sixth in home runs, fourth in extra base hits, third in slugging percentage, and second in runs scored, hits, total bases, and at bats. Kirby was also recognized for his defensive skills, earning his first Gold Glove Award.

1987–1990 (First World Series title)
In 1987, the Twins reached the post-season for the first time since 1970 despite finishing with a mark of 85-77 (a mark that would have put them 4 games behind fourth place New York in the American League East). Once there, Puckett helped lead the Twins to the 1987 World Series, the Twins' second series appearance since relocating to Minnesota and fifth in franchise history. For the season, Puckett batted .332 with 28 home runs and 99 RBI Although he hit only .208 in the Twins' five game AL Championship Series win over the Detroit Tigers, Puckett would produce in the seven-game World Series upset over the St. Louis Cardinals, where he batted .357.

During the year, Puckett put on his best performance on August 30 in Milwaukee against the Brewers, when he went 6-for-6 with two home runs, one off Juan Nieves in the third and the other off closer Dan Plesac in the ninth.

Statistically speaking, Puckett had his best all around season in 1988, hitting .356 with 24 home runs and 121 RBI, finishing third in the AL MVP balloting for the second straight season. Although the Twins won 91 games, six more than in their championship season, the team would finish a distant second in the American League West, 13 games behind the Oakland Athletics.

Puckett won the AL batting title in 1989 with a mark of .339, while also finishing fifth in at bats, second in doubles, first in hits, and second in singles. In April 1989, he recorded his 1,000th hit, becoming the fourth player in Major League Baseball history to do so in his first five seasons. He continued to play well in 1990, but had a down season, finishing with a .298 batting average, and the Twins mirrored his performance as the team slipped all the way to last place in the AL West.

1991–1995 (Second World Series title)
In 1991, the Twins got back on the winning track and Puckett led the way by batting .319, eighth in the league and Minnesota surged past Oakland midseason to capture the division title. The Twins then beat the Toronto Blue Jays in five games in the American League Championship Series as Puckett batted .429 with two home runs and five RBI to win the ALCS MVP.

The subsequent 1991 World Series was ranked by ESPN to be the best ever played, with four games decided on the final pitch and three games going into extra innings. The Twins and their opponent, the Atlanta Braves, had each finished last in their respective divisions in the year before winning their league pennant, something that had never happened before.

Going into Game 6, the Twins trailed three games to two with each team winning their respective home games. Puckett gave the Twins an early lead by driving in Chuck Knoblauch with a triple in the first inning. Puckett then made a leaping catch in front of the Plexiglas wall in left field to rob Ron Gant of an extra-base hit in the third. The game went into extra innings, and in the first at-bat of the bottom of the 11th, Puckett hit a dramatic game-winning home run on a 2–1 count off of Charlie Leibrandt to send the Series to Game 7. This dramatic game has been widely remembered as the high point in Puckett's career. The images of Puckett rounding the bases, arms raised in triumph (often punctuated by CBS television broadcaster Jack Buck saying "And we'll see you tomorrow night!"), are always included in video highlights of his career. The Twins then went on to win Game 7 1-0, with Jack Morris throwing a 10-inning complete game, and claimed their second World Series crown in five years.

However, the Twins did not make it back to the postseason during Puckett's career, although Puckett continued to play well. In 1994, Puckett was switched to right field and won his first league RBI title by driving in 112 runs. He was having another brilliant season in 1995 before having his jaw broken by a Dennis Martínez fastball on September 28.

Retirement, accolades and controversy
After spending the spring of 1996 continuing to blister Grapefruit League pitching with a .344 average, Puckett woke up on March 28 without vision in his right eye. He was diagnosed with glaucoma, and was placed on the disabled list for the first time in his professional career. Three surgeries over the next few months could not restore vision in the eye. When it was apparent that he would never be able to play again, Puckett announced his retirement on July 12, 1996 at the age of 36. Soon after, the Twins made him an executive vice-president of the team and he would also receive the 1996 Roberto Clemente Award for community service.

The Twins retired Puckett's number 34 in 1997. In 2001 balloting, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. In 1999, he ranked Number 86 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

Puckett had been admired throughout his career and for some years after. His unquestionable baseball prowess, outgoing personality and energy, charity work, community involvement, and nice-guy attitude earned him the respect and admiration of fans across the country. In 1993, he received the Branch Rickey Award for his lifetime of community service work.

However, Puckett's good guy persona began to erode in the years before his death. In March 2002, a woman filed an order for protection against Puckett's wife Tonya, alleging that Tonya had threatened to kill her over an alleged affair with Puckett. That month, another woman asked for protection from Puckett, saying in court documents that she had had an 18-year relationship with him and that he had shoved her in his Bloomington condominium. In September 2002, Puckett was charged with false imprisonment, fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and fifth-degree assault after being accused of groping a woman in a restaurant bathroom. A jury later found him not guilty of all counts; however, he subsequently relinquished his role as Twins executive vice president.

In the March 17, 2003 edition of Sports Illustrated, columnist Frank Deford wrote an article entitled "The Rise and Fall of Kirby Puckett", that documented Puckett's alleged indiscretions and attempted to contrast his private image with the much-revered public image he had previously maintained. Withdrawing from the team and friends, Puckett moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, along with his fiancee Jodi Olson and her son Cameron, in the winter of 2003. Those that did see him became concerned about Puckett's weight, with estimates putting it above 300 pounds. However there was also optimism with news that Puckett planned to marry Olson in June 2005.

Death
On the morning of March 5, 2006, Kirby Puckett suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke at the home he shared with Olson. He underwent emergency surgery that day to relieve pressure on his brain; however, the surgery failed, and his former teammates and coaches were notified the following morning that the end was near. Many, including 1991 teammates Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek, flew to Phoenix to be at his bedside during his final hours along with his two children Kirby Jr. and Catherine. His fiancee never left his side. Puckett died on March 6, just 8 days from his 46th birthday, shortly after being disconnected from life support.

In the subsequent autopsy, the official cause of death was recorded as "cerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension." Puckett died at the second-youngest age (behind Lou Gehrig) of any Hall of Famer inducted while living, and the youngest to die after being inducted in the modern era of the five-season waiting period. Puckett was survived by his children, son Kirby Jr. and daughter Catherine.

A private memorial service was held in the Twin Cities suburb of Wayzata on the afternoon of March 12 (declared "Kirby Puckett Day" in Minneapolis), followed by a public ceremony held at the Metrodome attended by family, friends, ballplayers past and present, and approximately 15,000 fans (an anticipated capacity crowd dwindled through the day due to a pending blizzard). Speakers at the latter service included Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Cal Ripken and Dave Winfield, and many former teammates and coaches.

On April 12, 2010, a statue of Puckett was unveiled at the plaza of Target Field in Minneapolis. The plaza runs up against the stadium's largest gate, Gate 34, numbered in honor of Puckett. The statue represents Puckett pumping his fist while running the bases, as he did after his winning home run in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series.