Kirby Puckett passed away on Monday from a stroke. He was only 45 years old, the second youngest member of the Hall of Fame to pass away behind only Lou Gehrig. Puckett was a great player whose career ended too soon due to glaucoma. Puckett helped the Twins claim two World Series titles. In the 1991 post-season, he hit 4 homers in 12 games, 2 in the World Series against the then upstart Atlanta Braves. That was one of the best World Series ever played, and it is one of the first I remember, thanks in large part to Mr. Puckett.
He was an All-Star in 10 of his 12 MLB seasons. He won 6 Gold Gloves as an outfielder and was a 6 time Silver Slugger winner. He never won the MVP but he was in the top 10 in voting on 7 occasions. He won a batting title in 1989 and led the league in hits 4 times. In his short but sweet career, he ammassed over 2,300 hits, over 1,000 runs, 1,000 RBI, 207 HRs, 134 SBs, and a career batting average of .318. He was a great player, and a loveable one.
TOUGH DECISIONS FOR CLEMENS
Roger Clemens is going to wait until after the World Baseball Classic until he makes a decision whether or not he will pitch in the Majors this season. If he decides to pitch, he must then decide where he'll pitch. As before, the contenders are the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros, and Rangers. The Rangers and the Red Sox each made video presentations to Roger. I'm sure all four teams made lucrative offers. I don't think this will be very much about money. If Roger cared about money so much, it'd be a no brainer that he would pitch this season. I think this will be about where he wants to end his career.
Some of the things I think Clemens will consider in making his decisions:
History:
Clemens has a history with the Red Sox, Astros, and Yankees. However, one could argue that his history with the Red Sox is much more important to his career. He earned 3 of his 7 Cy Young awards with the Red Sox. He earned one each with the Astros and Yankees. Clemens won the 1986 AL MVP with the Sox, pitched 13 years out of his 22 in Boston, and won 192 of his 341 games. However, he did win a World Series with New York. Furthermore, his history with the Red Sox and the city of Boston isn't without its darker moments. He's gotten booed almost every time he's pitched there in an opposing uniform, was generally disliked in his last two seasons by a large contingent of fans, and was deemed to be washed up by the previous organization.
The Present:
Roger will probably consider what his role on the team would be and who his teammates would be. On the Red Sox, he'd be on a World Series contending team. The same goes for Houston and New York. However, the Red Sox have much better pitching. He would probably be the #1 pitcher in Boston, but he'd be competing with Beckett and Schilling for that role. He's also have old friend Al Nipper as his pitching coach. Also, Terry Francona seems to be a universally respected and admired manager. But so isn't Joe Torre. On the Yankees, he'd be with Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina. He would be the Ace of the staff. In Houston, he'd be with his teammates from last season as well as buddy Andy Pettitte. On the Rangers, he'd be playing mostly with up and coming hitters and a grab bag of pitchers.
Convenience:
Is Roger willing to uproot and move back to the Northeast? The guy is considering not even playing baseball at all, which makes the move to New York or New England seem even more drastic. Roger's expressed an interest to pitch in the state of Texas his entire life. Is he willing to move back North where MLB baseball is life, and be 1,500 miles away from his home just for a season of baseball?
The Fans:
The manner in which Roger departed Boston and New York left sour tastes in the mouths of Red Sox and Yankees fans alike. Roger might not want to return to these places because of that. I know several Sox fans that still don't like Roger and claim that they won't like him if he returns. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd change their tune the minute Clemens is on the mound. But what if he doesn't have a strong start. Then the fans in Boston in New York that still hold a grudge against him will turn on him. Does Roger want this? Wouldn't he rather pitch in Texas where he is almost universally loved and where fans don't turn on a dime?
Roger has some tough decisions to make. There's a lot of give and take on this one. He's got several sets of decisions to make, actually. Does he play, or does he not play. Does he play in Texas or in the Northeast. Does he play for Houston, Texas, New York, or Boston.
Sources and Resources for this Post:
Yahoo! MLB Photos
Boston.com's Sports Section
Baseball-Reference.com
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