Last weekend (the 6th) marked four years since Kirby Puckett passed from us. Kirby, as are most of us was a complicated person.
As we think about the passing of Kirby Puckett, there are those that would have us negate his story from both perspectives. There are those who will only want to tell you about his dark side, making him out to be some sort of monster who had no redeeming value. 
Then there are others, who will want to tell you only about his redeeming qualities, giving him near sainthood status, right up there next to Mother Teresa and the apostles.
The problem with both sides is that it attempts to oversimplify something that can’t be that simple. The truth is that Kirby Puckett did things on a baseball field in such a way as to endear him to people who were not Twins fans and to those people who do fall into the category of Twins fan, his actions created a near deity persona. But perhaps, Puckett’s greatest contribution to the lore of baseball is he proved that our heroes are not perfect. They are very human, very capable of the worst things found in all humanity.
Simply being able to smash a homerun in a clutch situation does not negate the wrong, sometimes evil things they do. The point is they should be given the same consideration we all want and that is to not be judged by just one action. Many times a team has led the game for most of the game, but when all 54 outs were recorded, they lost the game. It’s the whole game that counts and when you look at Puckett’s whole life, the contributions he made to charity, the way he comported himself most of the time, he gave us all something.
Perhaps, the greatest thing he gave us is the truth that heroes fall, but that doesn’t make their heroics any less compelling. Perhaps, he gave us the opportunity to reflect and realize that we need to rethink how we handle our heroes, indeed how we handle all people: Treat them with the same amount of grace and forgiveness we all want in our life. Taking the person on the whole, both good and bad.
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Oh and still watch the Kirby living the dream as well as the 87and91highlights video tapes and it still gives me chills.
May he rest in peace as the best center feilderand person that many people know.He is the one that got me excited about baseball and made me the twins fan I am today.God bless u Kirby and his family.