Good Citizen Puckett Reaps Another Honor

Kirby Puckett is retired from baseball but the accolades keep coming. The former Minnesota Twins outfielder Wednesday was named the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually to the player who best exemplifies baseball on and off the field.

Puckett was one of the sport’s best hitters and true gentlemen for his 12 major league seasons before retiring this year at age 35 because of an uncorrectable vision problem that began plaguing him during spring training.

“I tried to be a goodwill ambassador for baseball,” Puckett said. “I tried to show young guys the way… . Playing baseball means a whole lot. But to have people look at you and think you’re a good person off the field means a whole lot more.”

Cal Ripken, who received the award in 1992, was on hand to present it to Puckett, who has long been known for his good citizenship and his extensive charitable endeavors.

“As a past winner of the award, I know the meaning of the award goes beyond the awards that evaluate you as a baseball player,” Ripken said. “Kirby exemplifies to me what Roberto Clemente stood for. Roberto Clemente stands for caring and giving back to the community. Nobody represents that more than Kirby.”

Island hero

Magda Rafael thought the local sports bar might be a little small to watch the island of Curacao’s newest hero play in the World Series. So the island’s sports commissioner invited the entire country to the stadium in Willamsted.

More than 3,500 people showed up Wednesday night to watch the Braves - and Curacao native Andruw Jones - play in Game 4. A giant screen was erected on the field to carry the game live.

“I’ve never seen the island react this way about anyone,” said Rafael, calling the 19-year-old Jones “a true hero for this island’s youth.”

It’s all mental

Braves second baseman Mark Lemke is a natural right-handed hitter, but a strange source of motivation moved him to become a switch-hitter. Lemke played on a neighborhood field in Utica, N.Y., in which the left-field fence was a relatively short distance from home plate, and left field bordered on a state mental health institute. “That’s when I decided to become a switch-hitter,” said Lemke. “I sure didn’t want to hit it that way.”

Labor talks drag

Negotiators in baseball’s labor dispute made no progress toward getting an agreement. In fact, they didn’t really focus on the unresolved issues in their talks. Rather, Donald Fehr, for the players, and Randy Levine, for the owners, discussed with Bud Selig, the acting commissioner, the summit meeting Selig has scheduled for Nov. 14.

That’s the meeting where Selig hopes to forge a better understanding among players, umpires and league officials so that incidents like the Roberto Alomar spitting episode can be avoided.

Cards have hepatitis scare

St. Louis Cardinals players, coaches and staff may have been exposed to the hepatitis A virus after eating a post-game meal served by a suburban St. Louis restaurant.

The team said no one has reported being ill, but it recommended those who ate the meal to get shots of immune globulin, a strong dose of antibiotic that can fight the disease if given within two weeks of contact.

Bartolino’s South catered a celebration in the Cardinals’ clubhouse following their 4-3 victory in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Oct. 13.

Four employees of the restaurant were diagnosed Tuesday with hepatitis A.

Around the bases

The most popular man at the World Series has been Montreal Expos G.M. Jim Beattie, who has told everyone that every star on his team is available. The best on the block: left-handed starter Jeff Fassero, closer Mel Rojas, outfielders Moises Alou and Henry Rodriguez and catcher Darrin Fletcher. They are all available for arbitration… . There are whispers the Indians may let outfielder Albert Belle walk away and spend all their money signing free-agent starter John Smoltz… . The Cincinnati Reds are shopping first baseman Hal Morris, who ended the season with a 29-game hitting streak. Morris was offered to the Giants in a deal for Barry Bonds. Reds G.M. Jim Bowden has offered Morris, Reggie Sanders and “anybody else we have, except Barry Larkin, John Smiley and Jeff Brantley.” Reds players would love to part company with one man: manager Ray Knight. No manager is more disliked by his players.