Guardado remembers friend, idol Puckett

PEORIA, Ariz. — Eddie Guardado was a lonely 22-year-old kid, just called up from the minors. This was his first day in the big leagues, in the visiting clubhouse in the old stadium in Arlington, Texas, with the Minnesota Twins.

It was 1993 and Guardado was a naïve kid, in his third year of professional baseball, sitting in his first team meeting and he was as nervous as if it were the ninth inning of the seventh game of the World Series.

"Eddie, stand up," ordered Twins manager Tom Kelly.

"Who's going to take care of this young man over here?" Kelly asked.

Kirby Puckett stood up before Kelly could finish the question.

"I got him, T, I got him," Puckett said. "I'll take care of him. Come on. I'll guide you to the promised land."

"I was a nobody," Guardado said. "I'd never met any of these guys, but that was the thing about Puck, he treated everybody the same way. And that's what you loved about him. He came up to me that first day and put his arm around me. This lonely kid, and it felt great. It was embracing. I felt like, 'Wow, I'm a somebody right here, right now.' From then on, we've been buddies, on the field and off the field."

Puckett suffered a stroke on Sunday and died Monday at the age of 45.

"It's really sad," Guardado said. "That was a good person we lost. It's like they always take the good ones quick, man."

Standing in the shade outside the Mariners' clubhouse on Tuesday morning, Guardado laughed easily as he told stories about his good friend for a cathartic half hour.

"When Puck predicted something, it happened," Guardado said.

Guardado remembers starting a game in Milwaukee. He had pitched out of a seventh-inning, based-loaded jam. Back in the dugout, Puckett sat next to him.

"Don't worry about it," Puckett told his starting pitcher. "We'll get a couple guys on. I'll take care of it."

Just as Puckett prophesized, two Twins got on. "Hey," he yelled to Guardado as he walked to the plate. "Watch."

Puckett hit the first pitch for a three-run home run and as he rounded second base, he looked into the dugout at Guardado, winked and pumped his fist.

"I won that game and I can't tell you how excited I was inside," Guardado said. "That was awesome."

The television was on in the Mariners' clubhouse on Sunday, when the news of Puckett's stroke scrawled across the bottom of the screen. Jamie Moyer called over to Guardado, who stood in stunned silence, staring at the TV.

Mariners manager Mike Hargrove excused Guardado for the rest of the day and Guardado drove to Scottsdale Osborne Hospital. He spent several hours there, waiting for Puckett to come out of surgery.

"Make sure you tell Puck I love him," Guardado told Puckett's longtime friend, Clayton Wilson, before leaving that evening. "Tell him he taught me a lot about life."

Puckett's life turned dramatically in the last decade. The years were difficult for him and his friends.

In March 1996, it was discovered he had glaucoma in both eyes, cutting short his Hall of Fame career.

In December 2001, his wife Tonya filed a police report saying Puckett had threatened to kill her. He denied the charge, and they were divorced shortly after that.

A year later he was charged with false imprisonment, criminal sexual conduct and assault. He was found not guilty in April 2003.

"A lot of stuff people said about him was obviously off-the-wall stuff," Guardado said. "I know Puck and the stuff I was reading about in the papers, you know, you tell yourself, 'No, that's not him.' We all have problems in our lives and because he's a superstar, it all comes out in the public.

"I mean it bothered everybody who loved him. But we all have problems in life, and you try to fix those problems and move on. The thing Kirby always told me and I pass it on now to the young guys in this clubhouse is, 'Don't worry about the things you can't control. Move forward.' "

Guardado was in the back of the room, tears rolling down his face on the day in 1996, when Puckett called the news conference announcing his retirement. In fact, it seemed to Guardado, the only person who wasn't crying was Puckett.

"This guy was my idol in the game, and I'm back there shedding tears," Guardado said. "But Puck never broke down. Afterward he came into the clubhouse and I asked him if he was all right.

"He told me, 'I can't control this, man. Remember what I told you. I've got to move forward.' My eyes were practically shut closed because I was crying so much. But that's just the kind of guy he was. He couldn't control this. He was absolutely right."

To honor Puckett, Guardado will write "KP 34" underneath the visor of his Mariners cap. Puckett wore No. 34.

"The thing about Puck," Guardado said, "even now, just thinking about him, he's putting a smile on my face. That's what I'm going to remember most about it. That's what's going to stay with me. Stay in my heart."

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com