Does bronze become him?

Twins Cities sculptor Bill Mack plans on tweaking the beard and teeth on the Kirby Puckett bronze statue outside the new Twins ballpark.

Mack, who was out of the country when the statue was unveiled, let me tag along with my video camera when he went to see the installation for the first time after it was cast and finished by a California foundry. I wanted to get his reaction to Puckett's visage -- and to criticism that it does not look like Puck, who died in 2006. If you're going to get anything right, this would be the piece, since it's likely to become one of the most visible statues in Minnesota.

"I understand your concern that the likeness created doesn't conform to your memory of what your friend Kirby Puckett looked like," said Mack. "I've got a memory of him like everybody else. But there is nothing specific about it. How somebody can say it doesn't look like Puckett -- I don't believe that at all.

"My job was not to create a typical likeness of the man but to memorialize Kirby in a very special, surreal moment captured in surreal imagery in the moment photographed 20 years ago," said Mack. He was referring to a photo of Kirby shot by AP photographer Jim Mone after Puckett's winning 11th-inning home run in game six of the 1991 World Series.

"It's my image of what I see that certainly does matter," said Mack. "I wanted to be true to the image, not necessarily true to Kirby, because for the most part, except for those friends, you and a few others, nobody knows what Kirby Puckett really looked like -- but they know that pose."

OK.

But he does plan a few changes. "My memory of him is not with a beard but with a goatee," said Mack. "I think we'll leave those stubbles. They darkened the hair and they darkened the beard area, and for whatever reason didn't brighten those teeth. Those teeth should be extra bright in the picture. I think that's going to make a significant difference. His teeth are so white in that photograph, the flashes are bouncing off his teeth. It's sort of significant. I would have caught that right way if I had been here when they unveiled him."

After seeing the emotional response Tonya Puckett had to the clay model, Mack said, "I was afraid to touch it." The other memorable feedback Mack said he got from Tonya was this: Nah, his butt was bigger. So Puck's posterior was enlarged.

"I thought he did a great job," Tonya said Friday. "It's such an honor, and every time something great comes up, when Kirby [Jr.] walks on the field representing his dad, that's emotional. It's beautiful [that Kirby Jr. and Catherine] are going to be able to remember so many awesome things about what a huge impact he made for the Minnesota Twins, that I'm really grateful that when I'm not here, that's part of what they will be able to enjoy. I'm really proud.

"When I saw the statue, it was so huge, and I knew even before I got close up on the statue, I knew that was Kirby."

Mack doesn't have to do a bit of tinkering with his sculptures of Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew. Nailed 'em!

The Carew piece seems to be returning a stare. Mack is a bit concerned that Sir Rodney could be knocked on his butt by a wayward motorist. "He's almost in the street," said Mack. "Can't you see someone bouncing up over that curb?" Sure can. The Carew statue is not going to budge, but if it ever takes a damaging hit in an auto accident, "We've still got the mold so we can cast another one," said Mack.

While I still don't think Puckett's face has been captured in bronze, I'm willing to await the results of Mack's tweaks. He is considering flying in foundry craftsmen to do them. I also can't wait to hear what Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon, who enjoy debating offbeat sports matters on ESPN's "PTI," might have to say about Puckett's bronze visage.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on FOX 9 Thursday mornings.