Kirby Puckett died tonight.

I’m not going to make any jokes about this, nor am I going to spend time recounting his baseball exploits. I just wanted to note that this guy was my idol when I was a boy. I had posters of him on my bedroom walls, and some of the most jubilant memories of my childhood were from watching him play. He also had a messed up personal life that tainted those memories in recent years, which was too bad.

Today, I’m going to be thankful for those good times when I was 13 and jumping for joy.