KIRBY

Kirby Puckett died. He was a baseball player, a centerfielder for the Minnesota Twins from 1984 to 1996. I wasn't a Twins fan but I had a ton of respect for Kirby; he played the game the way it supposed to be played - hard and with a lot of fun. He could hit. Man, he could hit. He was a great defensive player as well. His Twins won the World Series in 1987 and again in 1991, where Puckett made a great catch in center and hit a home run in Game 6 after telling the team to jump on his back; in Game 7 Jack Morris was lights out and it was over. Kirby had to quit the game in 1996 when he started suffering from glaucoma and it was a blow to the game. His numbers were something else and if he'd been able to play, he would easily have had 3,000 hits. Still, he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001. And now he's gone, suffering a stroke yesterday. He left the game too soon and he left life too soon. I love baseball and I loved watching Kirby Puckett play baseball. He will be missed.