Kirby Puckett, Off-Off-Broadway

When Kirby Puckett died last year, he left behind a most complicated legacy.

On one hand, he was the most popular Minnesota Twin in the team's history, heroic in the clutch, scrappy, all we love about baseball. On the other, he was a serial womanizer — as chronicled in the famous Frank Deford — and, toward the end of his life, a complete disaster.

A new play debuting in Minnesota attempts to reconcile the two Kirbys.

1991. Game 6 of the World Series, Twins vs. Braves. Kirby Puckett's stunning walk-off homer forces the series into Game 7, setting in motion the Twins' second World Series win in five years. A gutsy dynamo from the Chicago projects, Puckett ascends to baseball's heights through hard work, determination and a deep love of the game. His career tragically cut short by glaucoma, Puckett's difficulties escalate when damaging details of his private life become public.Exploring the privileges and pitfalls of hero worship, KIRBY recaptures the spirit and complexity of this unforgettable American icon.

We like the idea of one-man, one-act plays about all our sports heroes. Would you pay to watch a man pretending to be Alex Rodriguez for two hours? Hell, we already pay to watch him do that for three.

Would Fat Kirby Be Proud? [10,000 Takes]