Growing up in the 1990s, Twins baseball was Kirby Puckett and Kirby Puckett was Twins baseball to me. Far before I knew the meaning behind the guys running around in funny pajamas or why we waved white hankies to cheer them on, I knew Kirby Puckett. It was the name. The smile. The way he always showed up at the right time.
Heading into the 1996 season, none of that looked to change. In ‘95, Puck was good as ever: 39 2B, 23 HR, 99 RBI, .314 BA, 130 OPS+. Sure, his season came to an abrupt close after taking a ball off the cheekbone from Dennis Martinez on 9/28, but he was battering Grapefruit League pitching (.344 BA) in the ‘96 Spring Training.
Expected to be paired with established superstar Chuck Knoblauch, 1995 Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova, and free agent acquisition Paul Molitor, all signs pointed towards the Minnesota Twins being on the upswing after a 1993-1995 rough patch.
But on March 28, 1996, Kirby woke up unable to see out of his right eye. No vision at all. Despite trying to battle through batting practice, it was clear that the situation put him in imminent harm’s way, much less anything from a competitive perspective.
Initially diagnosed as glaucoma, further ophthalmologic testing revealed a more specific “central retinal vein occlusion” issue. Puckett would not be playing to begin ‘96.
In fact, after three months away and three eye surgeries in that span, it became clear that Kirby would never fully regain the type of vision necessary for professional athletics. As such, in one of the most emotional press conferences ever assembled, he announced his age-36 retirement on July 12, 1996.
I became a true day-by-day follower of Twins baseball in 1996. Partially because I was just about to turn 11-years old—peak baseball-obsession period. But I couldn’t have quoted you any team statistics at this point. What I could have shown you was the Puckett children’s biography I had checked out from the library, or the Kirby VHS highlight tape I watched incessantly.
My first foray into Twins fandom fervor came from picking up the daily newspaper and switching on the nightly news in ‘96 to get updates about my sporting hero—Kirby Puckett.