Posted on 03/06/2006 5:11:04 PM PST by daler
sad to say, I am old enough to remember that one.
I thought the '65 Twins were unbeatable (of course, I was just a kid, and Oliva, Killebrew et al were all superheroes).
Drysdale and the phenomenal Koufax showed us all what big pitching will do against big bats.
Like Kirby, Drysdale left us too early.
Just watched (on MLB.com) a segment on Kirby's homer in game 6 '91.
It still gives me goosebumps.
The guy was one in a million.
This is a very difficult night.
RIP, Kirby. He's playing at the great Field of Dreams now.
Several years ago, we had tickets to a Twins/Rangers game and the seats were close to the Twins dugout. Kirby was great with the fans. Not stuck up like so many of the prima donnas. We were Rangers fans, but I became a Kirby Puckett fan that day. I quit watching sports. The players don't have heart any more.
Some of them do.
Unfortunately the many that do have the type of character are overshadowed by those few who make asses of themselves.
The same sensationalist media that bugs the crap out of us in the political world has the same role in the sports media as well.
Aye, Kirby and Mr. Hrbek did their thing.
(Lived in Minnesota then...)
RIP Kirby.
Prayers for his family.
No cheers, unfortunately.
Former wife Toyna filed for divorce in 2001, claiming that Puckett had threatened to kill her. She also said during their marriage Puckett choked her with a cord and pointed a gun at her head. Classy...
A few months later, a woman who had an 18-year! relationship with Puckett obtained a court order barring him from having contact with her. The woman said Puckett had shoved her into his condo and threatened her.
Was arrested and accused on 10/18/02 of dragging a woman into a restaurant bathroom and fondling her. Many witnesses agreed with the girl's story. Puckett didn't know the woman when he made the attack...
Was somehow acquitted of the above charges in April 2003
Seems to have some issues with women and respecting his marriage vows.
Classy guy off the field.
I don't think I have ever encountered a Freeper so lacking in class. Congratulations. You are the bottom of the barrel.
Pardon my french, but that just *sucks*. Dennis Martinez was one of the few pitchers to have one 100 games in each league, if I recall correctly.
Again, I lived in Minnesota during the '87 and '91 series. I will never forget Kirby Puckett's and Kent Hrbek's heroics in those games!!
RIP Kirrrrrrbbeeeeeeeee!!
Full Disclosure: NOOOOOOOOO smoking in the Metrodome!
And then in 1966 Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, and Wally Bunker did it to the Dodgers. Heh Heh Heh.
Full Disclosure: Best post-season pitching--after Jack Morris in Game 7 ;-) (Of course, there's also Orel Hershiser and Dennis Eckersly...)
Cheers!
Yeah, a man who liked to bully women and cheat on his wife. He was a great baseball player but since when does that mean anything?
And if you think I give a rat's ass about what you think......
Absolutely...once you have a head injury...you are NEVER the same.
They have company in Keith Olberman (too lazy to find the remote). He, oh, so gently (not!) mentioned the controversy surrounding Puckett in recent years.
Living in Atlanta, I was unaware of them and will forever remember him with great respect as our nemesis in the World Series.
Rest in peace Mr. Puckett. You played a hell of a game.
Congratulations, you got to play "funny man" on this thread.
Stupid Ass.
Now, now. He wasn't exactly the captain of baseball's All Ugly Team by any measure, but Kirby Puckett (to repeat what I noted in an earlier comment) did rather look like six pounds of baloney stuffed into a four pound sack. On the other hand, if you want a real baseball All Ugly Team (don't jump---ballplayers themselves have been choosing it up for years, as Jim Bouton can tell you), I submit...
Catcher---Yogi Berra; backup: A tossup between Andy Etchebarren, Joe Torre, and Ernie (The Schnozz) Lombardi.
First base---Boog Powell; backup: Moose Skowron.
Second base---Johnny Temple; backup: Johnny Logan. (There may have been cause-and-effect here: Temple and Logan played in the same period and were bitter rivals for several years, including a number of to-a-draw brawls at or around second base that left them both looking worse for wear than they already looked, until the two finally ended the feud realising neither could win and both were liable to lose---their teeth, their jaws, and just about anything else.)
Third base---Pete Rose (he's actually a good multiposition candidate); backup: Don Zimmer
Shortstop: Ray Oyler; backup: Jim Davenport.
Outfield: Babe Ruth, Hank (He has a face that looks like a clenched fist) Bauer, Charlie (King Kong) Keller; backups: Danny Napoleon (immortalised thus by Curt Flood: He'd be ugly even if he was white), Wally Moon.
Starting pitchers: Randy Johnson, Warren Spahn, Sal Maglie, Early Wynn, Galen Cisco.
Relief pitchers: Don Mossi (Jim Bouton has immortalised him thus: he looks like a cab coming down the street with the doors open), Goose Gossage, Phil (The Vulture) Regan, Harry Parker.
Manager: Since Yogi, Joe, the Clenched Fist (he managed the 1966 Orioles to the franchise's first World Series triumph), and The Gerbil are all accounted for, I suppose it's now a tossup between Charlie Dressen, Leo Durocher, and Danny Murtaugh...
Puckett suffered a massive head injury when he took that near 100 mph fastball to the head and his career was over right then and there...please keep this in mind when making those kinds of comments.
The physical effects of head injuries include such symptoms as seizures, loss of motor speed and coordination and the presence of abnormal movement such as tremors and spasticity.
Cognitive changes involve disorders of attention, concentration and memory, problems with understanding or producing speech, difficulties with initiating and planning daily activities, and poor reasoning and judgement.
The behavioural effects include agitation and irritability, verbal and physical aggressiveness, impulsivity, depression and suicidal thoughts, and an egocentric or self-centred orientation in interpersonal relationships.
While the physical and behavioural effects of head injury present significant challenges for rehabilitation, the cognitive deficits are often the most difficult for the caregivers, family members and prospective employers to deal with.
The relative "invisibility" of these deficits in comparison to the more obvious physical and behavioural effects is one of the key reasons for this fact. The relative impact of cognitive deficits is the greatest in the case of mild to moderate head injuries where there may be negligible physical symptoms.
In such cases the head injury survivor looks "normal" and people around him/her are often unable to understand why he/she cannot, for example, act appropriately or remember instructions.
RIP Kirby
Baseball was Kirby's trade. His business, if you will. He had such a high demand for his service, whether you valued it or not, that he made almost 40 million dollars in salary alone between 1990 and 1997.
How does your success in business compare? How much demand is there for your services?
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