Kirby Puckett’s character was questioned by a former baseball player turned commentator on Sunday.
Curt Schilling, the former right-handed ace for the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox, essentially described Puckett as a polar opposite to former Braves pitcher John Smoltz, who was inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
You need ESPN Insider to listen back to the “Mike and Mike” interview, but here’s what Schilling said, according to the Star Tribune.
“You know there are a lot of guys with plaques who say really cool stuff and then you know the other side of the story. For every John Smoltz, there’s a Kirby Puckett. And there’s a story. People are human. We do a lot of the same dumb things a lot of other people do. The difference now is guys who hang around the game, they used to protect players. And there are a lot of guys who they protected who went into the Hall of Fame who were racist, who were gamblers, who were whatever, who other people knew about.”
Puckett is one of the most beloved players in Twins history, but this isn’t the first time his character has been called into question. In 2003, two years before his death, Sports Illustrated shredded Puckett with a post-playing career feature that portrayed the troubles he got in off-the field, including an alleged criminal sexual assault and infidelity in his marriage.
But Puckett still has supporters: one of them current Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, who passed Puckett on the Twins’ all-time home run list with his 208th on Saturday.
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How perfect. On a night when Kirby Puckett Jr. is in Target Field, Torii Hunter hits HR no. 208 as a Twin, passing Puckett Sr.'s HR total.
— Phil Miller (@MillerStrib) July 26, 2015
