Kirby Puckett, MLB hall-of-famer, dead at 44

[The Miz]

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060306&content_id=1337465&vkey=pr_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

One day after suffering a massive stroke. One of the first baseball games I can remember watching was Twins vs. Brewers in which Kirby went 6-6 with 2 HR and robbed a grand slam (they won the game by 4). He was a great hitter. May he rest in peace.

[YOUR Hero]

Yeah I had just read about that and was about to post a story on it. 44 years old. Man... Rest in Peace, Kirby.

[Joey Slugs]

:nono:

"Oh how the mighty have fallen."

RIP

[Loose Cannon]

He was part of the first World Series I really ever watched fully. RIP.

[D Mac]

RIP to a great ball player.

[OssMan]

Wow

First baseball glove I ever had was a Kirby Puckett, I always loved him since then. RIP

[Supreme Olajuwon]

He was a real good ball player and a terrible human being. See ya.

[FakeLaser]

Wow

First baseball glove I ever had was a Kirby Puckett, I always loved him since then. RIP
Yeah, my first glove was a Puckett too. A real shame, first he had to retire too early, and now at 44 he's dead. RIP

[mrslackalack]

RIP Kirby.

[samichna]

RIP 50% of the black people in Minnesota

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>R.I.P Kirby</font> :(

[RoXer]

Damnit. And I was so sure he would pull through. :(

[BCWWF]

http://images.art.com/images/products/large/10103000/10103720.jpg


"We'll see you tomorrow night!"

:(

[BCWWF]

http://www.startribune.com/10017/story/292208.html

Jim Souhan, Star Tribune
Last update: March 08, 2006 – 12:22 AM

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. - Jodi Olson said she and Kirby Puckett were happy and "entering the next chapter in our lives" after he awoke on Sunday morning, told her he loved her, rose to attend to their dog and "started mumbling."
Olson said that was the first sign of trouble, the first sign of a stroke would end Puckett's life at the age of 45, taking the man she called "my soul mate." The pair were to be married June 24 in Minnesota.

Tuesday night, Olson rejected the notion that Puckett had been ailing or unhappy, painting a picture of health and fulfillment for the Twins' Hall of Fame outfielder.

"I do want people to know that Kirby was a very happy man and that retirement gave him the opportunity to do things he always wanted to do," Olson said. "He was just ready to live the rest of his life."

On Sunday, friends and fans will remember Puckett's life at a Metrodome memorial service beginning at 7 p.m. Gates will open at 6 p.m., with no reserved seating. The Puckett family will hold a private visitation and memorial service Sunday afternoon.

Tonya Puckett, Kirby's former wife, said Tuesday that she is pleased that his memorial service will bear the imprint of their teenage children, Catherine and Kirby Jr.

"There are so many people who love Kirby who are helping making decisions as far as the funeral goes," she said in an emotional interview Tuesday night at her home. "Wherever Kirby is I want his children's handprints" on his services. "Because Kirby's life was about his kids."

Puckett stayed unresponsive

Tuesday, former Twins teammates Eddie Guardado and Matt Lawton, who now play for the Seattle Mariners, said they tried to stay in touch with Puckett, but that he had become harder to reach. "If I had known he was living in Scottsdale," Lawton said, "I would have tried to see him. We all missed him."

Olson said Puckett wasn't bitter or reclusive.

"I don't think that he withdrew," she said. "He loved his friends. He talked about them all the time, especially his old teammates. I think he and I had made a life choice to come here and just sit down and have our lives together, and this is where we wanted to be. He certainly didn't give up on baseball. He watched it constantly."

Olson said Puckett had been working out with a personal trainer at their house to prepare for the wedding.

"I know a lot of articles have come out questioning whether his weight was the reason for this," she said. "And his weight had absolutely nothing to do with this."

"There were no signs, whatsoever, that this could happen," she said. "He told me he loved me as soon as he woke up in the morning, and it all happened in a split second."

Olson said she called 911 and rode in the ambulance with him, but was not able to communicate with him, and that he never regained consciousness.

Family matters

Olson said she wanted people to know that Puckett loved his children, Catherine and Kirby, and that he had become close to her son, Cameron. She said she was thankful for the support of Tonya Puckett.

"Tonya has been truly wonderful through this," Olson said. "I'm very close to his siblings. He was very close to my family. Which, sometimes, people think is uncommon. But it was one big happy family."

Tonya Puckett said Tuesday that it's been difficult for her and family members to hear the media and public rehash the low points in their relationship.

"I know that I've made peace with Kirby," she said. "I really have. And for me, that came a long time ago. I can tell you that I've never loved a man like I loved him," she said through tears Tuesday.

"I never let the anger weigh more than the love. It's a beautiful thing. There are many people who will never experience that in their lives. I had something wonderful, I really did," she said. "To be able to love like that; I feel blessed ... there was so much good that came out of my life with him, not just my two children. I want my children to hold on to the great things about their dad. There was way more great than there was bad."

Olson also hesitated several times while speaking of Puckett, touching a tissue to her face. "Now I know that he's looking over me," Olson said. "He's my rock, trying to help me through this."

jsouhan@startribune.com. • 612-673-4503 Staff writer C.J. contributed to this report.

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I know it's an obituary, but even so it goes against all the trouble with his wife etc.