Posted By:
Frank WakefieldI wish the man well with his eyesight problems, but that was a sympathy factor. He was abusive to women, not really role model material there...
He had a short career, and had the fortune to be the 'exciting' 'spark plug' component of some good ball teams that would not have won as often as they did, nor won the 1987 WS, if they'd played in a 'normal' ballpark.
Here's a link to his page at Baseball Reference Dot Com
http://www.baseball-reference.com/p/puckeki01.shtml
They list comparable players as Don Mattingly, Cecil Cooper, Carl Furillo, Kiki Cuyler, Cesar Cedeno, Tony Oliva, Minnie Minoso, Joe Medwick, Felipe Alou, Bobby Abreu, Jo-Jo Moore, Frank Demaree, Farmer Weaver, Mike Greenwell, and Al Oliver. Good players, a couple of HOFers with Cuyler and Medwick. But ya know, they have Kirby like a dozen good non-HOF players.
Kirby was a very good ballplayer for half a dozen years. He was a good player another half a dozen. He doesn't fit my concept of someone for the HOF. And Todd, I guess I must be wrong about this since you've been waiting since March.... Two or three years ago I opined about how Puckett and Carter and some others have no business in the Hall. I reckon I need to post it more often. Peace.