Baseball Musings: Puckett Roundup

March 07, 2006

Puckett Roundup

With the untimely death of Kirby Puckett last night, the blogosphere remembers the Twins centerfielder.

Jay Jaffe is saddened by the good and the bad of Puckett's life.

Larry Mahnken notes that Kirby coined the nickname "Donnie Baseball."

Baseball Frank notes how Kirby's leg-lift trigger changed his game.

Aaron Gleeman remembers his mom's stroke.

The Baseball Crank asks us not to forget Puckett, the player.

Ivy Chat has similar thoughts.

Nick and Nick write a rare joint post to express their grief.

Seth Speaks rounds up all the links he can find on the rotund centerfielder.

Redleg Nation notes that it was fun to watch Kirby play.

Brew Crew Ball is glad Puckett was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Jeri at Minor League Baseball gets the last word.

Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments, or send a trackback to this post.

Update: You can also leave your thoughts about Kirby here.

Update: Chad Finn adds his thoughts.

Posted by David Pinto at 07:35 AM | Deaths | TrackBack (1)

Comments

David-

My thoughts are here- http://www.stevesilver.net/mt/archives/006835.html. Sad day.

Posted by: Stephen Silver at March 7, 2006 08:43 AM

Thanks for the links, David. I'm too young to have seen Kirby play, but his legend and enthusiasm for the game makes him an impossible man to miss when looking at the scrolls of baseball's past.

Posted by: stat man at March 7, 2006 12:10 PM

My thoughts are here

http://www.serafinisays.blogspot.com

Posted by: Dan Serafini at March 7, 2006 12:31 PM

Um....Kirby was a great player, and it's sad that he died so young.

But am I missing something? People talk about the "downturn" of Kirby's personal life, as if it all occurred after his career ended. With all due respect, Kirby Puckett was something of a philanderer...in a VERY big way. On top of that, he was a pretty abusive guy, to his wife, his mistress. He was at the front of the line in a sexual harrassment suit against the Twins. Look, we all talk about Ty Cobb as being an a**hole who made the Hall because of his ability. I'd say that Ty Cobb brought the same intensity and love of the game to field that Puckett did, and yet he's remembered at least as much for his nasty personality as he is for his ability as a player. Yes, Puckett projected himself well for the media and his teammates, was a right lovely person on the field. But for all of this, one SI comment says so much:

"Puckett’s ex-wife, Tonya, divorced him in December, barely a year after she told police that he threatened to kill her during a telephone conversation. Over the years, she told SI, Puckett had also tried to strangle her with an electrical cord, locked her in the basement and used a power saw to cut through a door after she had locked herself in a room. Once, she said, he even put a cocked gun to her head while she was holding their young daughter."

It would be one thing if she was the only one saying this kind of thing about him. But she was a voice in a chorus. Listen, let's honor Puckett the player. But all I've read dismisses his "personal" problems as something late in his life, and as part of the general tragedy that accompanied his health problems. Let's be honest here: Kirby Puckett was a great ballplayer, admired by fans and his teammates for the skill, energy and enthusiasm he brought to the game. But his personal life was a distaster, full of mysoginistic adultery and abusive behavior. Let's keep the admiration for his game, and be straight with ourselves about Kirby Puckett the man.

Posted by: Dave S. at March 7, 2006 02:38 PM

"because of his ability. I'd say that Ty Cobb brought the same intensity and love of the game to field that Puckett did, and yet he's remembered at least as much for his nasty personality as he is for his ability as a player. Yes, Puckett projected himself well for the media and his teammates, was a right lovely person on the field. But for all of this, one SI comment says so much:"

Ty Cobb was a dick on the field and off. Big difference. Kirby Puckett never entered the stands to assault hecklers or sharpened his spikes to injure opposing players, as Cobb did regularly. Oh yeah, Cobb was also a seething, idiot racist and bigot.

Puckett was no saint, sure, but there's a huge difference.
Puckett appears to have been an alcoholic, and a temperamental one at that. That's far less than what Ty Cobb was.
Kirby brought joy to those who played with him - pretty much everyone who played with Ty Cobb thought he was a piece of s--t. There's no comparison.

Posted by: david at March 7, 2006 10:28 PM

You say "no saint." The extent of his personal transgressions was that he was an alcoholic? Cobb was an absolute s***. True indeed. Tell me, though, is it better to be a seething racist or an abusive mysoginist? Is there any difference? Bigotry and abuse are bigotry and abuse in my book...whether it's against women or people of different ethnicities. From what I've read, Puckett had a great front. His teammates loved him. But he cheated on his wife for 18 years. And cheated on his mistress on top of that...again and again. Cocked gun to his wife's head? Cuts through a door with a power saw to get at his wife? I'm not saying that Cobb was a great guy. I guess what I'm saying is that I think Puckett was disingenuous and a mysoginist, both traits I find comparable to Cobb's traits of being nasty and racist. It's just that while Puckett's shortcomings are either missing or misted over in most of Puckett's rose-tinted eulogies, you'll never hear Cobb's name without a simultaneous mention of what a bastard he was. I'll choose to think of Puckett as a great player with deep flaws that prevent him from being any real hero of mine. I sure know that Cobb is no hero of mine. Astonishing player? Yes. I'll say and think the same about Puckett.

Posted by: Dave S. at March 8, 2006 09:12 AM

Dave S.--

Kirby Puckett certainly had his flaws, and he will now be judged by someone much more qualified than you or I, as someday we all will. But I think the fact that you took the occasion of his death to say the things you did about him says more about you than it does about Kirby Puckett.

Posted by: Jeff A at March 8, 2006 02:00 PM

"Kirby Puckett certainly had his flaws, and he will now be judged by someone much more qualified than you or I, as someday we all will."

Who? Bud Selig?

"But I think the fact that you took the occasion of his death to say the things you did about him says more about you than it does about Kirby Puckett."

What do you think it says about him? That he's somehow morally corrupt for pointing out the man's flaws, which in the media seemingly nobody else will? You don't see a problem with mythologizing a man who was a great ballplayer but a lousy human being?

Posted by: Jamie at March 8, 2006 04:11 PM

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