Harmon Killebrew- the Gentle Slugger
Harmon Killebrew was born on June 29th, 1936 in Payette, Idaho. He was an All-State quarterback at the local high school in 1954 when he was seen playing in a pick-up baseball contest by a scout for the Washington Senators. Displaying incredible power, Harmon Killebrew impressed the scout so much that, at the scout’s urging, the Senators offered him a $30,000 bonus to sign with them. The scout, Ossie Bluege, recalled once about going to see Harmon Killebrew play. “He hit line drives that put the opposition in jeopardy. And I don’t mean infielders, I mean outfielders. I waited for the rain to stop in Payette, Idaho and then he hit one a mile over the left field fence. I stepped it off the next morning and measured it at 435 feet. That convinced me. I signed him to a three-year contract for $30,000.”
This made Harmon Killebrew a “bonus baby”, which meant that he would have to spend a specified amount of time with the major league club before he could be sent down to the minors. The rule was put into effect to keep the teams with the most money, such as the Yankees and Red Sox (some things never change) from signing all the best talent and keeping it in the minor leagues. A player such as Harmon Killebrew had to be included on the roster for so many games, or risk being claimed off of waivers by another club. For this reason, Harmon Killebrew spent the better part of his first five years in pro ball shuffling between the Senators and their minor league affiliates.
He flashed a hint of his enormous power in a game for the Senator’s Double A squad, the Chattanooga Lookouts, when Harmon Killebrew became the only player to hit a home run over the 471 foot-deep centerfield fence at Engel Stadium. He joined the Senators for good in 1959 at the age of 23, and Harmon Killebrew became known as a feared slugger. Playing in all but one of the Senator’s 154 games, Harmon Killebrew hit 42 home runs and collected 105 RBI; he also struck out well over 100 times. It was a theme that would repeat itself in the career of Harmon Killebrew, as he led the league in homers six different seasons and was annually among the strikeout kings, although he led the American League only once in that category. Harmon Killebrew himself said, “”I didn’t think much about batting average when I was playing.” For his career, he would hit .256, with almost 29 per cent of his hits home runs.
1959 was a very exciting season for Harmon Killebrew. In the month of May, Harmon Killebrew hit a whopping 15 home runs. The first one won the second game of a double-header against the Tigers. He hit a home run while President Dwight D. Eisenhower was attending a home game, and the Commander in Chief was given the ball and had Harmon Killebrew sign it. Playing at third base and some in the outfield, Harmon Killebrew never seemed to mind what position the Senators put him at; he knew he was not being paid for his glove work. Good thing too, because as a third baseman, Harmon Killebrew was an absolute butcher. In over 790 games at the hot corner, Harmon Killebrew committed a ghastly 127 errors, with a fielding percentage of .940. He would eventually play a majority of his games at first base, where Harmon Killebrew was a surprisingly good fielder, finishing 969 games as a .992 fielder.
In 1961, on Independence Day, Harmon Killebrew, now a member of the Minnesota Twins after the Senators bolted Washington for the upper Mid-West, hit the only inside-the-park homer of his career. He finished that year with 46 round trippers and over 100 runs batted in. On July 18th, 1962, Harmon Killebrew and teammate Bob Allison both hit grand slams in the first inning of a tilt with the Indians, the first duo of the 20th century to accomplish such a feat. Indians skipper Paul Richards was always in awe of Harmon Killebrew. “The homers he hit against us would be homers in any park, including Yellowstone.”
In 1963, playing in a double-header against the Red Sox, Harmon Killebrew tied an American League record when he hit four homers in the twin bill. He underwent successful knee surgery in December of that year, and came back strong as ever in 1964, when he powered 49 balls out of the park. In May of ’64, Harmon Killebrew was part of another record home run endeavor, when he hit a home run after three other Twins had done it, making four consecutive.
He missed almost 50 games in 1965 when he injured his elbow during a collision with Baltimore’s Russ Snyder. Harmon Killebrew was leading the AL at the time with 20 homers and 70 RBI; he would return in time to play in the World Series. The Senators, with shortstop Zoilo Versalles having an MVP season, one that surely would have belonged to Harmon Killebrew had he stayed healthy, won the American League handily, by 7 games over the White Sox. They took a surprising two games to none lead over the heavily favored Dodgers before Los Angeles won four of the last five games of the Series. Sandy Koufax allowed only 7 hits total in a pair of shutouts, including a 2-0 three hitter to clinch the title. In the only World Series that he would ever play in, Harmon Killebrew hit .286, with a home run. He had 6 hits in 21 at-bats, with 6 walks, as Los Angeles wisely pitched around the now well-established power threat.
1966 saw Harmon Killebrew take part in the first five home run inning in league history, when he poled a shot against Kansas City in the seventh frame of a June game. Harmon Killebrew tied Carl Yastrzemski for the American League home run crown with 44, losing a home run when a game in which he had hit one was rained out with the score tied at 1-1 in extra innings. Had he gotten to 45, Harmon Killebrew would have denied Yaz the last Triple crown by any hitter in either league. On June 3rd, 1967, Harmon Killebrew hit the longest home run in the history of Minnesota’s old Metropolitan Stadium. Against California, Harmon Killebrew launched a shot that went into the upper deck in left field; the ball shattered a pair of seats some 530 feet away. The seats were painted orange and never sold again!
At the All-Star game in 1968, Harmon Killebrew stretched for an errant throw at first base and tore his hamstring. The Senators’ massive Frank Howard carried Harmon Killebrew off of the field like a sack of potatoes, no small achievement as Killebrew was six foot tall and well over 200 pounds. He would miss the rest of 1968 as he recovered from the injury. In 1969, Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th home run, helping to beat the White Sox. Teams routinely would put the second baseman on the third base side of the infield, shifting to try to deny the right handed pull hitter base hits. It mattered little to Harmon Killebrew in 1969, as he finished with 49 homers and a career high 140 runs batted in. He was named the American League Most Valuable Player after the season had ended.
The All-Star game in Detroit in 1971 provided a stage for another dramatic moment for Harmon Killebrew. His home run helped the American League to a victory, their only one in the midsummer extravaganza between 1962 and 1983. But injuries and age finally began to take a toll on Harmon Killebrew, and the Twins released him in January of 1975. He played one season with the Royals, and retired in September, standing fifth at the time on the all-time home run list. Harmon Killebrew, a man who the opposition was so wary of at the plate that he was intentionally walked three times in his career with the bases empty, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Harmon Killebrew’s approach to the game was a simple one, but precious few were ever better at it. “I found out early in life I could hit a baseball farther than most players, and that’s what I tried to do.” And he did, 573 times, as a matter of fact.
