4 New Songs Streaming
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BOOKING & PROMOTION
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Motion Booking
Minneapolis, MN
Office: 651-644-6569 |
Andy Everett • Booking Agent
motionbooking@earthlink.net
Available for solo and/or band shows throughout the U.S. |
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Goodbye Kirby
March 7, 2006
Kirby Puckett meant a lot to me. I started following the Minnesota Twins at about age 6, waking up early to get the morning paper to check the box score and listening to Herb Carneal's radio broadcasts of virtually every game on my little AM transistor radio. This was the late '70s, when then-owner Calvin Griffith was getting rid of all the great players like Carew and Lyman Bostock (another excellent player who left this world too early) and Larry Hisle. I would dream that the Twins would someday make the playoffs, and didn't really think they could EVER be in the World Series. It didn't look much better in the '80s. They blew a real chance to get there in 1984 (I was completely crushed by the disappointment), and the 1985 and 1986 seasons certainly didn't give any indication that the Twins were on the path to greatness. But a reason for hope was this kid who they called up in 1984, a pudgy short guy with a name that, in retrospect, meant he HAD to become a baseball player - Kirby Puckett. Not only was he a born baseball player - he was a natural. His playing and his personality lit up the Metrodome in a way that the artificial lights under the artificial roof never could.
 By a stroke of luck and familial generosity, I got tickets to Games 6 and 7 of the 1987 World Series. Seeing my Twins win a world championship, in person, is something I'll never forget, and it never would have happened without Kirby Puckett - same goes for 1991's world championship, of course. Yes, it's just a sport. No, I'm really not generally a "big sports guy." But I have always had a place in my heart for the Minnesota Twins and I always will. Kirby "won it all" for Minnesota two times - something the Vikings, North Stars, Timberwolves, Hubert Humphrey, and Walter Mondale couldn't pull off even once. There's no overlooking the sad decline of Kirby after his forced retirement due to glaucoma. He let himself go and he showed everyone that, after all, he was just a human being, with all the flaws of other human beings. Today I'm remembering Kirby Puckett the baseball player, the only real sports hero I've ever had, who miraculously overcame the poverty of the projects of the South Side of Chicago and the limitations of having a body that wasn't exactly "built for baseball," and did it all with a smile on his face. Kirby had a tough life, but he helped us all to smile too. For that, Kirby Puckett - thank you, and we'll miss you and we'll tell our children and grandchildren about you and you will live on forever in the hearts of Twins fans and, really, all baseball fans.
Here's an essay about Kirby that I thought was great:
http://www.bat-girl.com/archives/001391.php
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