The news of Harmon Killebrew's passing makes me really sad. I was too young to have been a fan of "The Killer" (or "Hammerin' Harmon," or "The Fat Kid," as he was also known); by 1975, the first year I started paying any attention at all to baseball, he was already playing out the final season of his career, uncharacteristically attired in Royals blue. But in my mind, he always seemed like a Paul Bunyan-esque throwback to the mythical days when gentle giants walked the earth, a barrel-chested slugger from a time when 573 career home runs was truly a Mt. Rushmore-esque total. I mean, look at that bad-ass 1973 Topps card, above — you just KNOW that next pitch is gonna end up somewhere deep in the left field bleachers...
Harmon didn't get a lot of page time in Big Hair & Plastic Grass, because the 60s were really his era; after All-Star seasons in 1970 and 1971 (he was one of six future Hall of Famers to homer in the '71 All-Star Game), his career was definitely on the downhill slide by 1972. But he was, by all accounts, a real sweetheart, a great teammate, courteous to umpires, patient and generous with fans; again, a throwback to a clean-cut time that never really existed. Harmon struggled bravely with a number of medical issues after he retired, including the esophageal cancer that finally took his life. Even in his final days, he fought that struggle with the same Hall of Fame grace that characterized the rest of his life. In a season of bad news for Minnesota Twins fans, this is really the capper.
Rest in peace, Fat Kid. Thanks for showing us how it should be done.
The card picture was taken at the cavernous yet hulkingly beautiful Municipal Stadium in Cleveland. I'd know those I-beams anywhere. I believe I saw Killebrew jack one out of there at my very first Tribe game. RIP
Posted by: hanry tanner | 05/17/2011 at 11:36 AM