Harmon Killebrew

Harmon Clayton Killebrew hit 573 home runs, drove in 1,584 runs, and walked 1,559 times across 22 seasons, and when a reporter once asked him about his hobbies he said, "Just washing the dishes, I guess." Killebrew came from Payette, Idaho, where his father had been the sheriff and his grandfather, by family legend, had been the strongest man in the Union Army. Killebrew grew up lifting ten-gallon milk cans on neighboring farms and grew into the kind of hitter who made Paul Richards of the Orioles say, "Killebrew can knock the ball out of any park, including Yellowstone." Killebrew led the American League in home runs six times, won the 1969 MVP, played first base, third base, second base, and left field because the Twins kept moving him wherever a bat that powerful could fit, and never smoked, never drank, and never raised his voice at an umpire. "I didn't have evil intentions," he said, "but I guess I did have power." The BBWAA elected him to the Hall of Fame in 1984 on 83.1 percent of the ballot.

Payette

Killebrew was born on June 29, 1936, in Payette, Idaho, a farming community near the Oregon border. His father Harmon Sr. played fullback on an undefeated college football team, earned All-American honors, and played professionally for the Wheeling Steelers before settling into law enforcement and house painting. Killebrew grew up playing on Walter Johnson Memorial Field in Payette, a coincidence that would seem too tidy for fiction, and lettered in four sports across four years at Payette High School, earning enough attention as a quarterback that the University of Oregon offered him a scholarship. Killebrew turned it down because he wanted to play baseball.

Idaho Senator Herman Welker told Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith about a kid in Payette who was batting .847 for a semipro team, and farm director Ossie Bluege flew out to see for himself. Bluege watched Killebrew hit a ball 435 feet into a beet field and signed him on June 19, 1954, to a bonus baby contract. The bonus baby rule required that any player signed for more than $4,000 had to sit on the major league roster for two years, so Killebrew, at 17, went straight to Washington and spent most of his first several seasons watching from the bench. His father died suddenly in 1953 at 59, before his son played a single major league game.

The Killer

Killebrew debuted on June 23, 1954, as a pinch runner at Comiskey Park, and his first home run came a year later off Billy Hoeft. The breakout arrived in 1959, when Killebrew hit 42 home runs, tied Rocky Colavito for the league lead, and earned his first All-Star selection. The Senators had become the Minnesota Twins by 1961, and Killebrew responded by hitting 46 home runs with a career high .288 average. In 1962 he hit 48 home runs and 126 RBI. In 1964 he hit 49. Killebrew led the league in home runs four years out of five during that stretch, and Ossie Bluege's scouting report turned out to be prophetic. "He hit line drives that put the opposition in jeopardy," Bluege wrote. "And I don't mean infielders. I mean outfielders."

Killebrew's finest season came in 1969, when he hit 49 home runs with 140 RBI, walked 145 times, and played all 162 games to win the AL MVP. Earl Battey, the Twins catcher, described what the team looked like without him. "The team without Killebrew is like dressing up for a formal affair with a white tie and tails and then wearing muddy shoes." On August 10, 1971, Killebrew hit his 500th and 501st home runs in the same game off Mike Cuellar of the Orioles, becoming the 10th player to reach the milestone, though the Twins lost in extra innings and Killebrew said the feat "means a little less since the team lost."

On June 3, 1967, Killebrew hit a home run at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington that was measured at 520 feet, the longest ever recorded at that park. Dean Chance, who faced Killebrew when Chance pitched for the Angels in the early 1960s, described what it was like to watch one leave. "I was 2-and-0 on him one night and I threw him a fastball," Chance said. "The home run he hit on that pitch was hit so hard that no one in the stands even yelled."

Payette Again

Killebrew played his final season with the Kansas City Royals in 1975 and retired with 573 home runs, fifth most in the history of the game at the time. The Twins retired his number 3 on May 4, 1975, and named Gate 3 at Target Field in his honor in 2010. Killebrew worked as a broadcaster for the Twins, Athletics, and Angels through the 1980s, and he coached hitting in the minor leagues. The years after baseball were not kind to his finances. A car dealership in Oregon and a leasing company in Minnesota both failed, and Killebrew filed for bankruptcy in 1993 with roughly $700,000 in debt. His first marriage ended after more than 30 years.

In 1964, an eight-year-old boy named Johnny Guiney was hospitalized with burns over half his body after his robes caught fire while lighting church candles. Killebrew visited, handed the boy an autographed baseball inscribed "My pal John," and told him, "Maybe I'll hit you a couple." Killebrew homered twice that day. The nickname "Killer" was the greatest irony in baseball. Umpire Ron Luciano called him "one of the nicest people ever to play the game."

Killebrew was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December 2010. He ceased treatment in May 2011 and entered hospice care. "Life is precious and time is a key element," he said in a public statement. "Let's make every moment count and help those that have a greater need than our own." Killebrew died on May 17, 2011, at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, at 74, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Payette, the town where he first swung a bat on a field named for Walter Johnson.