Harmon Clayton Killebrew

June 29, 1936 to May 17, 2011

The "Killer" died today. 

Think 1st or 3rd baseman.

When I was a kid I used to say "Killebrew will killa you," and that's what he did.  He was the pure best home run hitter I ever saw, and only Babe Ruth had more 40 home run seasons than Harmon's eight.

There were some big, strong dudes back in the day (the 1960's) when Killebrew was doing most of his damage.  Two I think of right away are Willie McCovey and Frank Howard, but they were much bigger guys than Harmon, who was (officially listed at) 5'11", and 210 pounds, though I think you could subtract an inch, and add 10 pounds to those numbers?

Some great Minnesota Twin teams in the 1960's with Tony Oliva, Caesar Tovar, Jimmy Hall, Bob Allison, Rod Carew, Don Mincher, and the 1965 AL MVP, Zoilo Versalles.  Yeah, look up Zoilo's record.  Good pitching too, with Jim "Mud Cat" Grant, Camilio Pasqual, Jim Kaat, Jim (Gaylord's brother) Perry, Johnny Klippstein, and Al Worthington.

It took Sandy Koufax to stop Harmon's Twins from winning the 1965 World Series, and Yaz's magical season for Boston to stop Minnesota from going to another World Series in 1967.  (By the way, I think the 1967 American League season may be the best one in history, if you like a wide open pennant race coming down to the last weekend, with 4 teams having a shot.  More on that some other time.)

573 lifetime homers.

Perennial All Star, Hall of Famer, and an all around nice guy.

Thanks for all those tape-measure homers, and some great memories.

Rest in peace, Killer.