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'This legacy will live on' Puckett gets highest honor in the game he loves
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- If he still could see out of his right eye, Kirby Puckett would have been out on the field, taking hacks. Instead, he was back in the "Room of Doom," talking about how he became the third-youngest living player elected to the Hall of Fame. "I was definitely an overachiever," Puckett said following his election to the Hall. "I did way more than I ever thought I'd do. But I had a love for the game that was unmatched." Puckett, 40, was the type of player they had to kick out of the ballpark: first to arrive, last to leave. When he came to the Metrodome following his election, he returned to the very same room where he announced the end of his playing days 51/2 years ago. "I was at the top of my game when I was forced to retire," he said. "I think you could put my numbers over 12 years up with anybody and they'd be comparable." He was a roly-poly walking advertisement for the game of baseball, thankful for every walk to the plate, every sprint around the bases. The 12 years didn't seem like enough. Among living players, only Lou Gehrig (36) and Sandy Koufax (37) made it at a younger age. "I wasn't playing to get into the Hall of Fame," Puckett said. "But I'm here now, and I'm here to stay."
As Hall of Fame moments go, Puckett said his was "pretty boring." He got the call that confirmed his enshrinement at 11:15 a.m. CST. He let out a "Yeah!" His wife began crying. And then he started dialing every telephone number he could remember. Puck, as his teammates called him, had his 10-year-old daughter and 8-year son with him Tuesday, and as he drove to the ballpark, he tried to explain the meaning of his election. "This legacy will live on," he said. "I told them that their kids and their grandkids will know that their dad was in the Hall of Fame." Puckett believes he is being enshrined because his passion for the game was so great. He would arrive at the ballpark at 2 p.m. for night games, paying kids extra to throw early batting practice. He signed autographs, talked to reporters and threw baseballs into the stands. He never stopped smiling. And when the end came so suddenly, there was no bitterness. He was filled with gratitude for the 12 seasons he was able to play.
He fell in love with baseball when he was 5, never playing another sport in high school. He said he always knew he could play, even when he went undrafted and received no major college scholarship offers coming out of his tough Chicago neighborhood. "I can't blame scouts for not coming to watch games," Puckett said. "If they came in, they wouldn't have gotten out." A Bradley University scout spotted him at a tryout camp, and Puckett soon was spending $39 on a ticket for a Greyhound bus to Peoria, Ill. His career took off. The Twins selected him with their first pick in the 1982 amateur draft and he made it to the major leagues two years later, a much skinnier center fielder, a leadoff hitter who was used to beating out infield hits. When Angels shortstop Dick Schofield threw him out in his first game, Puckett told Rod Carew -- another Hall of Famer -- he was stunned. "I said, 'Mr. Carew, in Triple-A that was a hit,'" Puckett recalled. "He said, 'Rook, this ain't Triple-A.'" Puckett was a high school infielder who became a winner of six Gold Gloves because he was willing to field hundreds of extra balls hit to him every day. He became the Twins' No. 3 hitter in 1986, though he had never hit more than five home runs before that season. Puckett worked with another former Twins star, Tony Oliva, to develop the leg kick that gave him the power to hit 207 homers over his career. "I laughed," Puckett said. "I couldn't see myself as a No. 3 hitter. Little did I know I'd go on to hit 31 home runs and have a monster year." And in 1991, he hit one of the most famous homers, an 11th-inning drive off Charlie Leibrandt that forced Game 7 of the World Series. Through it all, Puckett never lost the awe and passion that he had as a 5-year-old. He was still marveling Tuesday that he received a standing ovation at a Minnesota Timberwolves game the day before. "Baseball doesn't owe me anything," Puckett said. "I owe my whole life to baseball."
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