You Just Never Know...

Kirby Puckett died today at the age of 44. His death comes 22 years after he burst on the scene with the Minnesota Twins in 1984. Nothing in Puckett's life was expected. His death, like his retirement in 1995 came suddenly and with much sadness.

There was no fade in or fade out for Kirby Puckett. He didn't have any cups of coffee before sticking full time in 1984 with 557 at bats. He used the Metrodome carpet and slapped the ball to all parts of the ballpark. He didn't hit any home runs his first year and only four the year after in 691 at bats!

The following year, twenty years ago...Puckett listened to some good advice that he should attack the ball instead of slapping at it. The results were stunning. Not only did his average improve, but Puckett hit 31 homers and raised his slugging percentage a hundred and fifty points. Kirby became a star, an All Star and a Hall of Famer.

And he did all those things with such exuberance. Always hustling, always smiling, crashing into walls to make spectacular catches at historic moments and pumping his fists all the way to the dugout. He exuberance was a large part of two world championships for the usually-lowly Twins.

Pucket played twelve years and averaged 190-plus hits a year along with 90-plus runs scored and runs batted in. Despite his slow power start, Puckett averaged over 56 extra-base hits a year. And he made crashing into the baggie famous long before Torii Hunter.

And then in 1996, at the age of 34, the stunning news came that Puckett was finished. An eye condition took away his vision and that was it. No fade out. He was gone.

It was a surprise when Puckett was elected to the Hall of Fame five years later. Lack of longevity would have presumed that Puckett wouldn't have enough time played to qualify. But he was special and he was in and it seemed right.

Puckett seemed to drift out of our consciousness after his election. A couple of disturbing news reports here and there, a rare appearance once in a while, but that was it. And then suddenly the news came yesterday that he suffered a stroke. Emergency surgery was performed, but it was too late. He was gone.

Kirby Puckett was not the kind of superstar that was like a comet. We didn't see him arc into view and slowly drift away. He was more the shooting star that suddenly flashed, thrilled us with it's light and then burned out quickly leaving nothing but wonderment at the moment we just witnessed.

Perhaps it is better this way. You just never know. And like all the other events of his life, we never saw this coming.