Despite how great of a player Kirby Puckett was, that was not his legacy. Puckett was supposed to be remembered as one of the all-time greatest people in the history of baseball. On the field he was a 10-time all star, 6-time Gold Glover, and 2-time World Series champion. Off the field, Kirby won the Branch Rickey Award and the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year Award for his community service. Puckett was even inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame and named 5th on a magazine list of “The 100 Best Things About the Twin Cities,” the top rated citizen on the list. That’s what makes Puckett’s fall from grace so much harder to stomach.

When Puckett was forced into retirement by a sudden onset of glaucoma in 1996, Puckett’s image, and life, started to spiral out of control. His weight ballooned to over 350 pounds and his mistress of many years said Puckett began to become “full of himself and very abusive.” The fact that Puckett even had a mistress (who he cheated on with a bevy of other women) was a little known fact, hidden behind his golden boy image. In the years following his exit from baseball, Puckett purportedly performed lewd acts in public, such as urinating in crowded parking garages.

On September 6, 2002 Puckett allegedly pulled a woman into the men’s room of a Redstone American Grill against her will and sexually assaulted her. He was acquitted, but Puckett’s public persona was never quite the same.

In 2006 Puckett died of a stroke caused by hypertension from his massive weight gain. Although Puckett was still honored by many and is remembered as a great player, his actions after baseball made people realize that maybe he wasn’t the lovable character everyone made him out to be.