KIRBY

On Monday afternoon Kirby Puckett passed away at the age of 45. For those of you who do not know, he wore #34 for the Minnesota Twins when I was a kid. He helped lead them to two World Series championships and was one of the great players and great men of his generation. Our fathers celebrated guys like Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams because these were the guys who embodied all that baseball was when they were kids. They collected their baseball cards, watched them play on t.v. and wanted to be like them when they grew up. For all that men like Mantle and Williams meant to our fathers' generation in life, they mean even more now that they are gone. I grew up with players like Cal Ripken Jr. and Kirby Puckett. Puckett, who was always a little pudgy and obviously not the best pure athlete on his team, was always known for his drive, determination, kind heart and ability to lead his baseball team. He always smiled and I always knew he enjoyed every minute he spent on the baseball field. He played for the purity of the game and for the fans. He grew up on the south side of Chicago ... in Whitesox country. He was a Whitesox fan and would have loved to have played for his hometown team. However, after playing at a small local college, he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. This was a team he came to love and he cherished the fans that loved him with as much affection as he showed for the game of baseball. Countless times in his career he was offered contracts to play for a large market team like the Yankees and even his hometown Whitesox. But Puckett loved the fans he played for in Minnesota and finished his great career with the team he began it with.

Kirby Puckett does not have the numbers that guys like Mantle and Williams had, but as time passes I think those of my generation will look on him with the same nostalgia and affection that those before us see in other great players who have played this great game. So here's to everything that is great and pure about baseball and here's to Kirby. We'll miss you.