Phoenix – The truth about someone almost always comes out when he isn’t around.
Kirby Puckett is gone, the lights turning out long before anyone thought of checking the bulbs. He died Monday night of complications from a stroke. Former Rockies general manager Bob Gebhard was still reeling from the news when reached Tuesday morning.
“Complete shock,” Gebhard said.
Gebhard, now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, worked in the Minnesota Twins’ front office from 1987-91, spending five years around Puckett. What struck Gebhard about Puckett was his genuineness. Some guys say they are leaders, then show up 15 minutes late for a mandatory team meeting. Others profess to love the game, but will give autographs only when a camera has them in focus.
“We had a lot of great players on those Twins teams, but Kirby was the best. He was the reason we won two championships,” Gebhard said. “Guys fed off his enthusiasm, his energy, his passion. He was always smiling.”
Puckett, from afar, was impossible not to like. Before the bobblehead craze, he was baseball’s Mr. Potato Head – 210 pounds lumped around a 5-foot-8 frame. No baseball player looked like him. Certainly no Hall of Famer.
He launched his career at Triton (Ill.) College, where he was arguably the greatest player to appear in Grand Junction’s Juco World Series. In 12 magical years with the Twins, Puckett went to 10 consecutive All-Star Games, won six Gold Gloves and amassed 2,304 hits – more, in fact, than Joe DiMaggio.
“Playing in Minnesota, you realize what a great player he was,” Twins reliever Joe Nathan said. “I just wish I was able spend more time around him.”
The clock discriminated against Puckett. His career was cut short by glaucoma that eventually left him blind in his right eye. His life ended at 45, long before he had a chance to revive a public image stained by a secret mistress and an ugly trial in which he was exonerated of sexual misconduct charges.
Whatever became of Puckett after baseball, his impact in the game went beyond numbers. He was revered. As Gebhard explained, “Puck” treated everyone from veterans to anonymous rookies with the same respect. He taught Jacque Jones, Torii Hunter and LaTroy Hawkins how to act like pros, to respect the game.
Hawkins nearly broke down when remembering Puckett on a radio show Monday night. Alex Rodriguez said he couldn’t sleep the night after meeting Puck. This was common, Puck going out of his way to chat up teammates, opponents, always inviting them to his charity pool tournament.
“I was a nobody,” Jones said. “We met around the batting cage, and the next time he was down there he remembered my name. Everyone liked Kirby.”
Friends worried about Puckett the past few years as he went through a messy divorce and ballooned to more than 300 pounds. Part of the weight was Puck, living life without elasticity.
“When I was in Minnesota, he was our John Elway,” Gebhard said. “Nobody was more popular than Puck. It’s really hard to believe he’s gone.”
Juicy Bonds details
A book that will be released this month by the same San Francisco Chronicle reporters who followed the BALCO trial contends Barry Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs, including steroids and human growth hormone, for at least five seasons, starting in 1998. Bonds, who in grand jury testimony insisted he never knowingly used steroids, said Tuesday he didn’t plan to read the work. At this point, however, one thing is clear: Bonds’ reputation is shot.
Commissioner Bud Selig, who has defended Bonds, had no comment Tuesday. Here on the first day of his World Baseball Classic in North America, Selig was a no-show. Does anybody see the irony here?
Now it’s clear why no one involved with Team USA lost a wink of sleep when Bonds backed out. For Bonds, it’s a little too late for denials.
It’s time to go away. For him. For the game. That’s how tragedies end.
Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5457 or trenck@denverpost.com.
