April 7, 2002: Kirby Puckett's tarnished image

Kirby Puckett's induction into baseball's Hall of Fame on a sunny August afternoon in Cooperstown, N.Y., should have kicked off a victory tour of public appearances, community celebrations and fan adulation.

But eight months later, Puckett has virtually disappeared from public view after his wife, Tonya, alleged that he abused her and threatened to kill her.

Other allegations have surfaced recently, including a sexual harassment claim by a former employee of the team.

Puckett, who has denied the allegations made by his wife in her divorce filing, will no longer be involved with a pool tournament that raised about $4 million in 11 years for Children's HeartLink and the University of Minnesota's Puckett Scholars program.

He took himself out of the lineup for the Twins Caravan, the winter tour of Minnesota and neighboring states designed to drum up interest in the team. He has not been a part of the lobbying effort at the Legislature to get a new ballpark, and his involvement with a Christmas-time fund drive for Children's Home Society is in limbo.

"Puckett has probably done more for Minnesota sports than anyone," said Jon Austin, a senior vice president with Fleishman-Hillard, a public relations firm with an office in Minneapolis. "But if you think of people as brands, this is a reflection of how fragile that brand is.

"He's been held up for many years as one of the true nice guys of sports, but that can change dramatically with one incident or allegations."

The divorce action, still pending, was followed by other legal filings. In March, Anne Potter filed an order for protection against Tonya Puckett. Potter, who owns a limousine service, alleged that Tonya threatened her over an alleged affair with Kirby. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for April 11.

Also last month, Laura Nygren of St. Louis Park asked for a protection order against Kirby Puckett. In court documents, Nygren said that she had an 18-year relationship with him and that he shoved her inside his Bloomington condominium, which he bought several months ago.

According to Nygren, Puckett said: "I just hope you're not setting me up, because I heard you were talking to Tonya. If I find out it was you that sold me out, you're in trouble, girl."

The two parties "reached agreement" to drop the order before a hearing could be held over whether to make it permanent, according to Nygren's attorney, Brian Sobol.

Puckett did not return phone calls for this article.

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`Man of the Year'

Puckett, 42, was named the Twins' executive vice president for baseball in November 1996, the year he was forced to quit playing because of glaucoma in his right eye. That year, he won the prestigious Roberto Clemente Man of the Year Award, awarded by Major League Baseball for community service.

A Star Tribune panel selected him as Minnesota's most important sports figure of the 20th century. In January 2001, he was elected to the Hall of Fame during the first year he was on the ballot.

Nationally, baseball writers and columnists around the country wrote of "Puck" as an everyman superstar who countered the image of many contemporary athletes. An article on ESPN's Web site, written by a Chicago Tribune baseball writer, was headlined: "Puckett is as great a man as he was a player."

A former St. Paul baseball writer, also writing for ESPN, wrote: "While he was as good as any player in baseball during his career, he also was one of the game's great ambassadors, which is partly why voters elected him into Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility."

Last Aug. 5, Puckett walked to the podium at Cooperstown to accept his Hall of Fame induction. After the traditional thank yous - to his teammates, managers, fans and his agent - he turned to his wife, Tonya.

"Most importantly, I want to thank my beautiful wife, Tonya, who has been there with me through a lot of the highs and lows of my career. . . . I love you, Tonya, and thank you for all that you have done for me. And you'll always be there for me, and thanks for babysitting me for 16 years sweetie."

Even as he spoke at Cooperstown, Puckett had problems that few people knew about, including his wife.

Several months before the induction ceremony, Puckett and the Twins had reached a secret monetary settlement with a former team employee, who accused Puckett of sexual harassment, according to Nygren and others.

Nygren and others familiar with the case said a suit was threatened by the woman but never filed because Puckett settled to keep it private.

Ben Henschel, an attorney for Tonya, said people contacted during the discovery phase of the divorce case have told his firm that Puckett and the Twins settled with the ex-Twins employee.

However, those involved were forbidden under the agreement to discuss the matter, and the woman allegedly harassed has not talked to Tonya's lawyers, Henschel said.

Asked to comment on a settlement with Kirby Puckett and the Twins, Lori Peterson, whom Nygren said was the woman's attorney, said: "I can't comment."

The woman involved in the settlement did not return a phone call.

Dave St. Peter, Twins senior vice president of business affairs, said he has "no knowledge" of the settlement. "I've heard a lot of things over the past two months, but I have no concept of where that's coming from," he said.

Puckett's divorce attorney, Robert Zalk, also said he had no knowledge of the issue.

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No longer lobbying

When Puckett was hired as a Twins vice president, one of his roles was to lobby for a new ballpark. He appeared at the Legislature several times during the 1997 session and again in 1999 when St. Paul unsuccessfully sought voter approval for a sales tax to be used toward a stadium.

Puckett also appeared in small cities throughout the state, bringing out fans in ways that no active player could match.

But this year, when the Twins have their best chance ever to get a ballpark bill signed into law, Puckett has not been a part of the push.

"We are not using any players at the Legislature right now," St. Peter said. "Our strategy was in place long before" Puckett's problems became public.

St. Peter said it's unfair to say the stadium issue was Puckett's only job. He serves on the team's executive committee and heads the Twins Community Fund's board of directors. If Puckett seems absent, it's because his family problems take precedence, St. Peter said.

"We hired Kirby Puckett because his name is synonymous with the Minnesota Twins," said St. Peter, adding that Puckett's future role with the team will be discussed when his contract expires at the end of the year.

Veteran lobbyist Sarah Janecek said Puckett's absence at the Legislature was noticeable but wise.

"If I had the Twins as a client and they wanted to use Kirby Puckett, I'd say that I think that's a horrible idea," Janecek said. "I think people understand human nature and that people make mistakes, but the organization and the issue is bigger than one person, and I'd tell them to divorce themselves from the person."

Said Austin, an expert in crisis management who worked at Northwest Airlines before becoming a senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard: "I'd say it's probably not a good time for either Puckett or the Twins. Puckett should be focusing on his personal issues, whatever they are, that are front and center.

"And the Twins, as a matter of tactics, don't want to open up a second front while seeking a ballpark."

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Involvement drops

Other changes in Puckett's visibility will be more obvious in the months to come:

- "The Kirby Puckett Eight-Ball Invitational" will be replaced by a pool tournament that doesn't involve Puckett. In the past, Puckett's status drew such baseball stars as Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Cal Ripken Jr. to the Twin Cities.

The event included a $250 per plate dinner and auction, black-tie optional, and last year was emceed by NBC-TV announcer Bob Costas, a longtime friend of Puckett's.

"Children's HeartLink is going forward with the 12th annual Eight-Ball tournament," said Catherine Higgins, a spokeswoman for the organization, which aids children around the world who have heart defects and heart disease. "But Kirby Puckett will not be involved. We really appreciate everything the Pucketts have done."

Higgins said she isn't sure whether sports celebrities will be part of the tournament in the future.

Tonya Puckett, 36, said in an interview last week that "it breaks my heart," that the Puckett name will be dropped from the events.

- The Pucketts were host to the sixth annual "Puckett Party" last Dec. 10 for the Children's Home Society's Little Red Stocking campaign, which they had chaired for 10 years. In recent years, the fundraiser had become a roller skating party in St. Louis Park.

"We really don't know whether they will be involved in the future because, frankly, Tonya was really the driving force behind it," said Kimberly Morgan, marketing and public relations director. "We're not sure if that's something the Twins will consider sponsoring themselves."

- The funding of the Puckett Scholars program appears solid, but the continued participation of the Pucketts is uncertain. Gerald Fischer, president and CEO of the University of Minnesota Foundation, said the program was funded by an endowment from Kirby and Tonya Puckett in 1994.

"Both of them have been very involved over the years, and we've been assured the program will continue," Fischer said.

Asked if the Pucketts will continue to be visible, Fischer replied: "I don't think we can answer that. We're in an uncertain period."

Said Tonya Puckett: "I will continue to support the charities I've been involved in as much as I can because I truly believe in them."

- Kirby Puckett didn't participate in this year's "Twins Caravan." At a stop in Bemidji in January, soon after news of the Pucketts' divorce filing was made public, St. Peter told the audience that Kirby had decided to remain in the Twin Cities.

Instead, fans were given Puckett's autograph.

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- Jon Tevlin is at jtevlin@startribune.com; staff writer Jim Adams contributed to this story.