Puckett Farewell To Be Emotional Night

The governor will speak. The acting commissioner will be on hand. The league has given permission for special field seating and more than 53,000 people, the most to see a regular-season Minnesota Twins game, are expected.

No, playoff fever hasn’t hit. Saturday night’s hoopla is just to say goodbye to Kirby Puckett, the most beloved sports figure in Minnesota history.

Forced to retire July 12 because of glaucoma in his right eye, Puckett picked Saturday’s game against the California Angels as the night he wanted to thank the fans for all they gave him during his 12-year career.

The feeling is mutual.

“I think the way people reacted to Kirby’s retirement, the outpouring of emotion, will be culminated here tomorrow night,” Paul Molitor said before Friday’s game.

Puckett rose from Chicago’s West Side to a remarkable career that probably will get him into the Hall of Fame. A refreshing blend of exuberance, compassion and talent packaged in a beer-league body, Puckett played in 10 straight All-Star games and helped the Twins win two World Series titles, the only major championships in the state’s history.

But he will be remembered for more than his .318 career average, his 207 home runs or his 1,085 RBIs. Even his memorable Game 6 performance in the 1991 Series, with his leaping catch and game-winning home run, will be secondary when Puckett is remembered in years to come.

“He’s just a great guy,” Matt Lawton said. “The last time I saw him he was talking about his playing days, back in ‘87, back in ‘88, and I never heard him do that before. So I guess maybe now it’s sinking in that it’s not going to be Kirby in the future. It’s just looking back on what he’s done.”

Saturday night’s ceremony will include speeches by Gov. Arne Carlson and Twins owner Carl Pohlad. About 200 children will participate, as will former Twins Rod Carew, the Angels batting coach, and Tony Oliva.

Acting commissioner Bud Selig will attend, and so will a long list of former Twins. The game sold out in a matter of weeks when the special ceremony was announced, and the team says its regular-season attendance record of 53,106, set in the final days of ‘87, will fall.

The Twins, who will retire Puckett’s No. 34 at another ceremony next season, had to get permission from the league to build field seating for Saturday, a rarity in the regular season. There also will be two video presentations. And there will be Kirby at center stage.

“He kind of felt he never had a chance to say goodbye to the fans,” team spokesman Dave St. Peter said.

After tying Toronto for the worst record in the majors last season, the Twins have remained in the wild-card race this year despite the loss of their longtime leader. But Puckett still has a locker in the Twins clubhouse, and he still has a place in his former teammates’ hearts.

“How could you not miss him?” Rich Becker said. “That’s one of his greatest attributes and why, to me, he was such a well-loved player by so many people. His charisma, the way he kept everybody loose in the clubhouse. He was always having a good time.”

The end of Puckett’s career came quickly and without warning. He was hit in the face by Cleveland’s Dennis Martinez in his last game of 1995. But he returned this spring and was playing like the same old Puckett when he awoke with blurred vision the day before the Twins were going to break camp.

“The more I think about it, I still can’t believe this is the end for Kirby,” Lawton said. “I thought maybe they’d do something to help him get back on the field. But, right now, I guess it’s saying goodbye. At first it really hurt, but now it feels more like a celebration.”