I realize that if you aren't a baseball fan, you might not know who Kirby Puckett was. Puckett, a Hall of Fame player, died today at 45 from a massive stroke.
Puckett stood 5'8", which in non-athlete terms, is not tall. But there are certainly many guys 5'8" or under. Baseball Reference listed him at 210 lbs. during his playing days.
Some sources put him at close to 400 pounds when he suffered the stroke. Puckett also had a family history of heart trouble. He had lost many of his family members before the age of 50 to various health problems. And glaucoma ended his career prematurely at the age of 35.
Yet Darryl Kile, a pitcher for St. Louis, died at age 33 of a heart attack in 2002. He had a family history of heart problems.
Maybe it's too soon to say this, but it is a reminder that you have to be more careful when you have a family history. If we guess that Puckett was about 375, the weight increase after retirement is 165 lb. Nobody, athlete or otherwise, can do that and not suffer somehow.
The temptation is to say family history is a fait accompli. I certainly relate to it because my family history stinks. You might as well try; if you don't, this could happen anyway.
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