I’m going to preface this blog post by saying I never met Harmon Killebrew. I’m too young to have watched him play. I don’t even have anything autographed from him.
Harmon Killebrew was a larger than life athlete in Minnesota. Associated Press
But that doesn’t mean I haven’t always had an opinion of Killebrew, which has been shaped by years of story-telling from others who have known him.
Killebrew died Tuesday after battling cancer in the esophagus. The last month has been quite a whirlwind for Minnesota Twins fans in regards to one of the team’s two greatest players (along with Kirby Puckett).
Killebrew was scheduled to throw out the first pitch for the home opener. And just over a month later, he’s gone. He never did throw out that first pitch, and less than a week ago he announced in a news release that he was entering hospice care.
It’s been great reading about the man known as “The Killer,” which was a nickname that reflected more on his baseball ability than his attitude. He seems like one of those stars that not a bad word is written about, along the lines of a Stan Musial for Minnesotans. That’s something that - as the years go on – we’ll appreciate more.
One thing that has stuck out to me about Killebrew’s career as that he didn’t get into the Baseball Hall of Fame until his fourth try. I’m left wondering, “How can that be?” He played in a deadball era – at least in modern times – and hit over 500 homers. Doesn’t seem right.
And as juiced-up slugger after juiced-up slugger passed him on the career home run list during the last decade or two, well, that didn’t seem fair either.
But as far as I can tell, none of that bothered him. He is as well-known for his humility as for his home runs. Maybe that’s his legacy.
Goethe and Mix needed to do their homework better on the discussion about Roger Maris and the home run record. The “asterisk” is part of folklore about Maris but was never actually in the record book. For several years the official baseball record book showed two home run records: one for 154 games and one for 162 games. Ultimately, that was changed to just show Maris as the home run record holder. Unfortunately, steroids erased Maris’ record. Maris’ record was heroic and was recognized by his teammates although not by the New York sports media or by the commissioner of the era. As a result, there are still people who consider his accomplishment to lack legitimacy. BTW- the person in third place (tied with two others ) in the 1961 home run race was another true hero, Harmon Killebrew.