12 Days of Twinsmas: #3 Harmon Killebrew

He was my boyhood hero.  He gave me so much joy and happiness.  To me he will always be the number one Minnesota twin of all time!!

Harmon was a childhood hero and class act to all ...

One great memory of mine was a doubleheader against Oakland ... Twins win the first game 10-9 ,,,,

Second game , bottom of the ninth  and runner at second 2 outs and twins trailing by a run a/metropolitan stadium ,,, up comes Harmon  , and that who we want in tgat situation  ,,, Harmon hits a deep fly ball to left centerfield  looks like it's going to be a gaming winning homerun but leftfielder Joe Rudy climbs the fence and reaches over the fence for the game saving third out for Oakland  ...

Best loss I ever saw ,

why was it the best loss game I ever saw , because Harmon was the batter we wanted in that situation  and he gave it HIS ALL that just came up short with Joe Rudy making a spectacular catch ...

Best game I ever seen and it was a loss ,,, 

Next Best game I ever saw was of course 1991 game seven and Jack Morris giving it HIS ALL in 10 innings of **** out ball 

I was at the last Yankee game where Mickey Mantle played for the Yankees at Met Stadium.

I got to see Mantle hit a solo home run and the Yankees led 1 to zip in the ninth with two outs and one on.

Harmon had two strikes, then hits a massive home run to give the Twins a 2-1 victory; only time in my life I saw my Dad jump up and cheer, as was the whole stadium, best baseball memory ever.

Harmon retired as the American League leader in home runs from the right side. Tony Oliva was my favorite player but Killebrew was easily the greatest player to ever wear a Twins uniform, including Steve Carlton.

1 hour ago, stringer bell said:

Harmon is #1 in my book, as well. I think in general this series the earliest stars should be rated higher--Kaat, Tony-O and Killebrew in particular. Last I looked Harmon had over twice as man lifetime homers for the Twins as the second best on the list, and if his homers were added from his time with the Senators, the margin would be even greater. 

Sadly the last year he hit 49 home runs it should have been 50, but one that the umpire called a ground rule double, because it was an arrow straight shot, the opposing fielder later said: "It never touched the ground."?

Time would stand still throughout Twinsdom when Harmon Killebrew was up to bat. You could be at the hardware store ready to check out and the clerk would say, "just a minute, Harmon is up." And for the next few minutes we'd all stand there listening to the radio hoping to hear the crack of the bat that would send another baseball deep into the stands. It was the best of times.

My childhood hero as well. Hawmon Billefrew was one of the first full names I tried to pronounce. In todays world of between pitch gymnastics I loved how Harmon waited patiently in the box with his bat resting on his shoulder until the pitcher wound up. There wasn’t a tense muscle in his body until the bat exploded into the ball. 

4 hours ago, tony&rodney said:

Harmon retired as the American League leader in home runs from the right side. Tony Oliva was my favorite player but Killebrew was easily the greatest player to ever wear a Twins uniform, including Steve Carlton.

I don't disagree. I made a similar comment about Carlton on another thread, being certain to say he was the greatest pitcher ever to play for the Twins.

I agree with those previous posters who feel that Harmon should be #1. That said, I forgive the error of perspective brought on by date of birth. To enlighten those whose first-hand baseball knowledge only goes back 30 years or so, Jim Thome was Harmon Killebrew except for batting left.