The Puckett Principle

Beneath his easy, cheerful veneer, Kirby Puckett has always been obsessed with learning the rules of the game--on and off the field

A A A Comments By Ann Bauleke Wednesday, Apr 3 1991

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"Five more years," he says. Puckett is bent over, applying pine tar to his bat. He lifts his head, sneaking a peak at Oliva to see if he's still getting a reaction. He giggles but Tony is dead serious. Last year Oliva became responsible for a brother who moved here, and the Twins announced over the off-season that this will be his last year as a field coach. He doesn't have Puckett's options.

"Five more years?" Oliva asks. You'd think by the look on his face they just stripped him of his batting titles.

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"Six or maybe seven," Kirby says. "We're adopting a baby. In five more years my kid's going to kindergarten and I'm not missing that for nothing, man."

"You'll miss baseball," Tony warns.

"You're right. I probably will miss it. But there's more to life than baseball. I know that, and that's more than about 50 million other people know."

"He gets along with everybody," says Al Newman, "but then he really doesn't fit into any one clique. He's one of those guys who just mixes well with everybody, and everybody really does love Kirby Puckett. He's full of laughter, full of joy." Newman watches Puckett for a moment in the batting cage. "Sometimes I wonder about that guy," he says. "He's complex in the sense that he wants to be loved and accepted by everybody. And in order to be that way... it's tough."