Kirby Puckett

[fireflyab]

i've been really amazed by the response to kirby puckett's death all over the internet. i had no idea he would be so well remembered outside of minnesota! i've been surprisingly sad about the whole thing- mostly because i feel like i just can't explain how much he really meant to me as a kid and to the entire state - from his 12 years as a twin

Comments

[moundie]

I'm sure that there is no small amount of apologist in me, but there are a few things that I keep in mind when I think about the tarnish on his legacy.

The only charges that were ever formally brought against him, on behalf of the woman in the St Louis Park bar, culminated a trial that ended with his acquittal. There was no plea bargain. The acquittal didn't arise out of some glamorous defense attorney. This wasn't a Kobe Bryant situation where the woman wouldn't testify. He was simply acquitted. If you believe in the system of justice in this country, that means that he didn't do what he was charged with doing in that case.

The other big issue is the alleged spousal abuse. Its hard to say what exactly happened with the spousal abuse - did he hit his wife and threaten to kill her, or did that stuff get blown out of proportion in a divorce proceeding that may have stemmed from the fact that he was experiencing full-blown depression after having the ability to play baseball ripped away from him? I'm not sure that it is anyone's business, since he was never formally charged with anything. Was Mrs. Puckett trumping up the charges in reaction to the allegations of the affair, or in hopes of a bigger chunk of the pot? Did Kirby really tell his wife he wanted to kill her? We won't know.

I will say though that the "just a man" defense is really pretty sickening, since it is used constantly to defend against spousal abuse that isn't done by celebrities. If what he is accused of actually happened, it would be another sad, indefensible story of a celebrity acting like he is above the law. I won't say anything like that - all I'll say is that nothing was ever proven, and that allegations about his personal life and other such tabloid fodder should never have run him out of town in the first place, and they certainly shouldn't tarnish his legacy.