Junior visited Kirby for 4 hours Sunday

[missionhockey21]

Junior visited Kirby for 4 hours Sunday
KEVIN KELLY AND ENQUIRER NEWS SERVICES

Reds star Ken Griffey Jr., who is in Arizona playing for the United States team in the World Baseball Classic, visited Kirby Puckett for more than four hours Sunday night.

Griffey didn't leave until almost 2 a.m. Monday.

"He's one of those guys, you're just glad you had a chance to know him," said Griffey, who was taken under the wing of the more-established Puckett as a 1989 rookie for Seattle. "He took care of me."

Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky got to know Puckett during his time as Twins assistant general manager, and the two sometimes shared an office at spring training.

"He'd come up and use my office and do all his autographing," Krivsky said. "So we got to know each other pretty well just hanging out in my office."

Puckett enjoyed answering Krivsky's phone and not identifying himself.

"He'd answer it saying, 'Wayne Krivksy's office,' and nobody knew they were talking to him," Krivsky said. "I know he answered the phone a few times and it was my wife. He said, 'Hey, mama Kriv is on the phone. Mama Kriv wants to talk to you.' So my wife got to talk to him a few times.

"He was just a fun guy to be around . . . it's just a shame."

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...603070394/1071

[missionhockey21]

I am really glad to hear Kirby had some friends like Junior around with him before he passed away. Given how young Junior was when he came up, you have to imagine he idolized Puckett in a big way.

The bit about answering the phone doesn't surprise me at all, sounds just like something Puckett would do.