As a Minnesotan I remember him well. I never got the sense that Kirby was just passing through. He was a real member of the community; a sports figure who lived up to every expectation, on the field and off. I have to admit that I cried when I heard of Kirby's death.
I have several vivid memories of Kirby, all of them from the same game. I saw him absolutely crush a pitch over the deep centerfield wall in Anaheim Stadium once. He hit the ball so hard that the whole stadium just gasped. The next inning he robbed an Angel of a sure homerun by climbing the centerfield wall and reaching over it. Crazy thing was, no one in that park doubted he would catch that ball, even as he was running to track it down. Finally, after that game he stood outside the dugout and gave several autographed balls and bats to some special needs kids, took them down on the field, took pictures with them, and then pushed one kid in a wheelchair around the bases. By this point, there were maybe several hundred fans in the stadium, but all of them stopped on their way out of the park and just watched Kirby spend time with these kids.
3 comments:
He was alot of fun to have in baseball. You just couldn't help but like him.
As a Minnesotan I remember him well. I never got the sense that Kirby was just passing through. He was a real member of the community; a sports figure who lived up to every expectation, on the field and off. I have to admit that I cried when I heard of Kirby's death.
I have several vivid memories of Kirby, all of them from the same game. I saw him absolutely crush a pitch over the deep centerfield wall in Anaheim Stadium once. He hit the ball so hard that the whole stadium just gasped. The next inning he robbed an Angel of a sure homerun by climbing the centerfield wall and reaching over it. Crazy thing was, no one in that park doubted he would catch that ball, even as he was running to track it down. Finally, after that game he stood outside the dugout and gave several autographed balls and bats to some special needs kids, took them down on the field, took pictures with them, and then pushed one kid in a wheelchair around the bases. By this point, there were maybe several hundred fans in the stadium, but all of them stopped on their way out of the park and just watched Kirby spend time with these kids.
Rest in Peace, Kirby. We loved to watch you play.
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