By: Joe Strupp Amid the extensive coverage today by Minnesota's two major newspapers on former Minnesota Twins' star Kirby Puckett's death is a dramatic 911 call from Puckett's Arizona home Sunday to police reporting his stroke.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press, which obtained the audio and transcript of the call Monday from Scottsdale, Ariz., police, posted it Monday evening just hours before word of his death was made public.
"An editor had the idea to call out there and they gave it to us," said Editor Tom Fladung. "We called just before the guy who gave it to us was leaving."
The call, which was made at 6:51 a.m. Sunday, the paper reports, offers the voice of a frantic woman describing Puckett's falling down, sweating, and urging that help be sent. In between cries and shortness of breath, however, she manages to give police enough information to respond.
A portion of the transcript from the Pioneer Press' Web site:
Operator: What's going on there?
Caller: I don't know. It's Kirby Puckett, and he's ... something's going on and he can't talk and he's falling down. Please hurry!
Operator: Ma'am, help is on the way. You need to stop saying that. Is he conscious or unconscious?
Caller: He's conscious, but he's falling back!
Operator: Help is on the way. You need to calm down ... you need to calm down so you can help him until we get there. How old is he?
Caller: (crying) 45.
Operator: Does he have any ongoing medical problems?
Caller: I don't know ... he's overweight....
Operator: Is he sitting up?
Caller: Kirby ... Kirby.
Operator: (unintelligible) Is he sitting up?
Caller: Yes, he's sitting up.
Operator: OK. What does his coloring look like?
Caller: He's black. He is a black man....
Operator: OK. Was he complaining of anything on this day?
Caller: He didn't complain.
The Pioneer Press deleted Puckett's address and phone number from the posting, but reportedly provided the full audio and transcript of the call. It was later revealed that Puckett, 45, had a stroke. He died Monday afternoon.
"We got it during the day [Monday] and had it posted before his death was made public -- around 6:30 p.m.," Fladung said.
The rival Star-Tribune of Minneapolis, which broke the news of Puckett's death before the Pioneer Press, according to Fladung, did not obtain the audio. The Pioneer Press editor said at least one local television station has requested a copy of the audio. He said the paper provided a short segment of it to the station.
When asked if posting the audio and transcript had prompted any positive or negative feedback, the editor said he did not know.
Both Twin Cities papers offered extensive coverage of Puckett's life and passing, with the Pioneer Press devoting 80% of the front page to him and the Star-Tribune giving slightly less Page One space. Each paper also has extensive online information, from timelines of his career to columns and audio.
Each newspaper's obituaries gave little attention to Puckett's legal troubles, a 2002 incident in which he was accused of groping a woman and dragging her into a restroom. Although the star outfielder was acquitted, the incident tarnished his image for several years.
Fladung said because of Puckett's unexpected death, a full obituary was not ready to go when his stroke occurred: "We had one kind of ready, with stuff that had been strung together. But we didn't have one ready to put in the paper on Sunday. We could have put something together then, but it would have taken a couple of hours."
Star-Tribune Editor Anders Gyllenhaal could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.
Other newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, also limited mention of the criminal trial in their death notices today, not including it until well in to each story. The Los Angeles Times, however, noted the negative incident in the sixth paragraph of a 14-paragraph report.
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