Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

With the coming of spring comes the fresh sounds, the crack of the bat hitting the ball or the whip of a hard thrown pitch into a new catchers mitt, but all that came to a silence last Monday when Minnesota Twins hero Kirby Puckett died.

Puckett touched the lives of many Minnesotans, as well as fellow baseball players. One Minnesota ball player Puckett touched was Forest Lake High School baseball coach Brian Raabe.

Like so many Minnesotans and baseball fans, the news of Puckettís stroke was a shock to Raabe.

ìWhen I first heard the news that he (Puckett) had a stroke, I knew it wasnít good, especially when I saw certain people, friends of mine like Eddie Guardado and Jaque Jones flying down there,î Raabe said.

ìWhen I heard more and more people were going down there (to Arizona), I knew we probably werenít getting the full story and I started calling the Twins and I was getting the same information the news media was that it wasnít good.î

Eventually Rabbe found out like everyone else that things were bad and that the hero of the 1991 World Series had passed away.

ìI was shocked when I heard he had a stroke, then I was saddened when I heard he had died,î Rabbe said. ìHe was an ambassador of the game of baseball and to lose a guy like that so young is tough to deal with.î

Teammate, friend remembered

Part of what made Puckett so special was his personality, something that impressed Rabbe when he was called up to the big club back in September of 1995. There were other players in the Twins clubhouse that Raabe had played with in the minors, but it was Puckett, not the others who came up to Rabbe to congratulate him on making it to the ìshow.î

ìYou dream as a little boy to be in the big leagues, but when you get there, there are a lot of nerves,î Raabe said. ìKirby pulled me aside to let me know it was a big achievement to make it to the majors and he wanted to put me at ease.

ìThat meant a lot to me. He didnít have to do it and it went a long way with me and I appreciate it to this day.

ìHe wanted to put me at ease, and still let me know it was a big deal, but to relax.î

Once on the team, Raabe said any player was then in Puckettís ìinner circle.î

ìOnce you were his teammate, you were his friend,î Raabe said. ìIf you were in the majors he respected that, and he always knew who you were.î

Puckett wasnít all business though, in the clubhouse he was quite playful Raabe says.

ìYouíd walk in the door of the clubhouse and Kirby would be there and youíd already be in a better mood,î Raabe said. ìAll the joking from him was from the heart to get people excited and ready to play the game.î

One instance Raabe remembers Puckett getting people ready to play was in the 1991 World Series. Raabe had just been drafted by the Twins and had access to the clubhouse before game six. Raabe said Puckett told the team, ìGuys, jump on my back and Iíll take care of it.î

ìHe was saying that we should play our game and heíd take care of the rest,î Raabe said. ìHe made that catch, then hit the home run that allowed us to play game seven.î

Raabe said Puckett was good enough to do things like that. He recalled one time when Roger Clemens was bringing some high heat and frustrating a lot of Twins batters. Puckett said it was time he hurt Clemensís feelings and went up to the plate and hit a home run.

Rabbe is just one of thousands of Minnesotans who has a Puckett story. He may have a few more than most since he played with him, but like us all, heíll miss the baseball legend who came from the Projects to be one of the greats of the game.

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