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Statue of limitations: Does this look like Kirby Puckett?

Apr 14, 2010, 10:00 AM EDT

So the Twins unveiled the Kirby Puckett statue at the opening of Target Field on Monday, and I have to agree that it’s a fine monument. I especially liked the part where Princess Leia says ‘I love you” as they lowered Kirby into the mold, and he replies “I know.” But beside the fact that the creation makes it look like the late star is frozen in carbonite, many Twins fans are complaining that it doesn’t even look like him. There have been Twitter rumblings about it since Monday. Examples:

The statue of Kirby Puckett at Target Field looks nothing like Kirby Puckett, I look more like Kirby Puckett than that statue. — mhoope02

First look on TV of Puckett statue? Ugh. Is that Kirby or Pillsbury Doughboy? — 91ZR1

And now Minneapolis Star-Tribune Lifestyle columnist C.J. checks in with this:

Nobody’s happy to state the obvious about that bronze sculpture of Kirby Puckett: It doesn’t look like him.

The body’s off, too.

As moving as the Puckett unveiling was Monday at the new Target Field, with Kirby Puckett Jr. doing the honors, the sculpture’s look was a huge letdown. Interesting, the smaller version of the sculpture being given to Puckett’s family looks a teeny weeny bit more like him.

The face on the sculpture, based on AP photographer Jim Mone’s 1991 World Series image of Puck, looks menacing and unnecessarily dark. Puckett is resolutely exuberant in Mone’s photo, which captures the sweetness about Kirby’s face during that jacked-up moment.

Here’s video of the unveiling. That’s Kirby Puckett Jr. looking at the statue in the photo, by the way.
Meanwhile, some didn’t like the pose.
I should add that there has been praise for the statue as well. I just think that the pose they chose is a very tough one to capture in statue form. When the Dodgers start making statues, they will have an easier time of it.
***
As plain as the nose … [Minneapolis Star-Tribune]
Kirby Puckett statue unveiled [KSTP]

  1. BC - Apr 14, 2010 at 12:23 PM

    Looks like Elmer Fudd.
    Any WHY did they give this guy a statue? He was one bad dude off the field!
    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2003/03/11/si_puckett/

  2. dolla billz - Apr 14, 2010 at 8:18 PM

    Young Puckett has a look on his face like…That Ain’t my daddy you people be trippin…

  3. Wayne - Apr 17, 2010 at 3:22 PM

    I was so SHOCKED to see the statue of Kirby Puckett at Target Field (that didn’t look like him) that I went online and printed the picture of Kirby rounding the bases after his monumental HR in the World Series and put it next to the photo of the statue. It confirmed what everyone has been saying about it. BAD! What a letdown. I can only imagine what his family thought when they saw it …. and the fact that they, and all of us, will have to continue to look at it! I think my grandkids could have done a better job on it.

  4. Jason - May 15, 2010 at 2:24 PM

    I love the pose…and sure, it’s not the best likeness, but that’s not what really matters. What matters is that we remember him for all he did on and off the field. And by the way, I’m sick of hearing that he was ‘bad’ off the field. It was one allegation of groping by a drunk woman in a bar who was after $$ – big deal!

  5. Jason - May 15, 2010 at 2:28 PM

    Anyone can get smeared – a baseless allegation that even IF true is no big deal. I don’t know why people keep talking about it.

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