#34

Growing up, Kirby Puckett was a hero to me. When playing baseball in the yard with my brothers and the neighbor kids, he was the one I was pretending to be. I didn’t collect a lot of baseball cards but looking back it seems like every other card is of him. I remember when my dad would take me to Twins games at the Metrodome and seeing him play and hearing Bob Casey announce his name at the top of his voice. The dome would go wild with cheering fans regardless of the game situation. It always amazed me how you rarely could hear Casey announce Kirby’s last name for as soon as he started screaming “Kirbyyyyyyy....” cheers would drown him out. When Puckett came to bat anything could happen and like his walkoff homerun in game six of the 1991 World Series it was a familiar site that you almost came to expect.

I never got to meet Kirby but one of my college roommates used to work at a bowling alley that Puckett would go to. My friend said he was always the nicest guy with the biggest smile on his face and that Kirby always remembered his name and that he had a twin brother. Of course this wasn’t a rare thing as there are countless stories of how Kirby Puckett touched the lives of so many people. Now this childhood hero is gone. Sure he’s been out of baseball for a few years, but just like when he was forced to retire, part of my childhood has now died with him. To me Kirby Puckett will always be the face of the Twins. Thanks for all the good memories Kirby. You will be missed.