MLB Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew died today at the age of 74 in Arizona after losing a battle with esophageal cancer. It was only last week that Killebrew announced he was deciding to rest peacefully and stop cancer treatment. The slugger appeared in 22 seasons, spending the first 21 of those with the Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins before finishing his career with the Royals in 1975. Here’s an excerpt from the Minneapolis Star Tribune…
Harmon Clayton Killebrew, an iconic Minnesota Twin known for his prodigious home runs and humble demeanor, passed away Tuesday morning at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home at the age of 74 after a nearly five-month battle with esophageal cancer.
Killebrew was the face of the Twins franchise for 14 seasons after the franchise moved to Minnesota from Washington, D.C. before the 1961 season. He is 11th on the all-time major league home run list with 573, of which 475 were hit wearing a Twins uniform. He has the eight highest single-season totals in Twins’ history. And he became the team’s first MVP in 1969 and its first Hall of Fame inductee in 1984.
Harmon Killebrew is one of those mythical baseball names that you learn as a kid, even growing up now. The Killer led the Twins to one World Series appearance in 1965, where they lost to Sandy Koufax’s Dodgers in seven games. In 1969 and 1970, the Twins made the first two ALCS, losing to the dominant pitching staff of the Baltimore Orioles both times. Even with that nickname, Killebrew was noted as one of the most humble superstars the game has ever known and the face of the Twins franchise for decades. Killebrew’s on-base and slugging numbers don’t jump out at the top of the charts next to some of the numbers of the steroid era and beyond (.376/.509/.844, +143 OPS+), but he will always be renowned as one of baseball’s all-time great power hitters. Killebrew was an 11 time All Star selection, the first coming in his full season debut in 1959 and the last coming in 1971. He hit the most home runs of any person in the 1960s (393). At the time he retired, his 573 home runs were second in the American League behind Babe Ruth. He had eight 40+ home run seasons, nine 100+ RBI seasons, and finished in the Top 5 of the AL MVP voting six times.
Picture via Twins.com
