My family consists of huge groups of baseball fanatics, and as a young girl, I was in love with Kirby Puckett from the Minnesota Twins. I used to run around the house all day long and yell out, “K.irby….Buckett!” just because I didn’t know any better that the baseball player’s actual last name was Puckett, not Buckett. Plus, my parents thought it was adorable that I couldn’t get the name right, so that only encouraged me to continue spouting out the wrong name. Eventually as time progressed and my ability to read got even stronger, I would rent books from the library or actually buy biographical books on Kirby. I was head-over-heels for a guy that I really didn’t know much about, and considered him to be my baseball idol.
I even remember one time my dad got the two of us tickets to wait in line at a baseball signing, just so I could get up close and personal and have Kirby autograph a baseball for me. I was so excited and so nervous while waiting in line, and even when I got an arm’s length apart from him, I clammed up and wasn’t even able to speak much to him. That was a day that was unforgettable for me.
Unfortunately though, Kirby Puckett did not stay on the Minnesota Twins forever, and was forced to retire due to losing vision in one eye because of Glaucoma, which then led to his self-destruction. In 2002, Puckett began letting himself go and acting out inappropriate ways. There were claims that he had assaulted a woman in a restroom while out to dinner, and he was then charged with false imprisonment, sexual misconduct, and assault. I remember hearing on the news how the newly retired nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame was arrested for all the misdemeanors and felony, and I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that my favorite baseball player, who I had been rooting for all those years, had turned into such a monster. Soon, when people would ask what baseball team I liked the most, or what my favorite baseball player was, I would say, “Kirby Puckett before he went all looney.”
After Kirby, I really didn’t idolize any other famous person. It wasn’t because Kirby made me lose faith in celebrities, it’s more because after hearing what Kirby Puckett did or supposedly did, I just started realizing all those famous people are human too, so what’s the point in idolizing them? And I try not to remember Kirby Puckett as the low-life he became after his baseball career, but rather as the baseball star so many fans loved and enjoyed watching. Plus, what would be the point? He died two years after being acquitted on those charges, so it’s not like he lived very much longer to inflict more suffering. So I would rather remember him as Kirby… Buckett then as the possible Kirby Puckett convict.
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