Harmon Killebrew Roundup

By Bill


I initially wanted to come up with some clever new angle on Harmon Killebrew this morning, but really, I already kind of said my piece over on Getting Blanked the other day. I read an awful lot about him yesterday, though, and I wanted to share with you some of the best of all the Killebrew writing from the last couple days:

Jim Caple: Harmon Killebrew was a treasure
Caple covered the Twins for years, before moving on to Seattle and then to ESPN, and I think what makes this my very favorite of all the pieces I've seen today is that he's writing from personal knowledge, but doesn't get wrapped up in his own personal experiences with the man, instead using that knowledge to color the more wide-ranging discussion about the man and his life.


Jim Salisbury: Remembering Harmon Killebrew
Salisbury (at Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia) digs up a piece from a few years ago recounting his two meetings with Killebrew. It's a great story and a basically perfect encapsulation of the kind of person Killebrew was.

Joe Posnanski: The Gentleman Called Killer
Poz is always great, of course. I love this because he focuses on the early, Senators days people don't know much about: the bonus-baby beginning and his sudden coming-of-age in 1959.

Patrick Reusse: Slugger put Minnesota on baseball map in 1965
Probably the only time you'll see me link to Reusse with a purpose other than mockery. What Reusse's got is longevity and a good memory, and here, he talks about Killer's big All-Star appearance for the still-new Twins in '65 and what it meant to baseball in Minnesota.


Chris Jaffe: The Gentle Killer
As you might expect from The Hardball Times, this one's more performance-focused, but it's not some big stat nerd thing. Jaffe really tells you (first generically and then with specific highlights) just what kind of player Killebrew was, much more than you can learn from his Baseball Reference page.


Rob Neyer: Harmon Killebrew Was Gentlest of Sluggers
Notice a pattern with these headlines? Kind of along the same lines as the Posnanski piece, but in a very different style. Just Rob being good at telling a story.

Um...Hulu: Home Run Derby: Harmon Killebrew v. Willie Mays
Not "writing," per se, but you can't miss this. My understanding is that TCM came across this gem somewhere on the Star Tribune's website (I can't find it myself or I'd link more directly). It's the old late 50s/early 60s Home Run Derby program, pitting one slugger against another in a nine-inning match. If you've ever wanted to watch those two legendary hitters in their primes, click over and have the best half hour or so of your day. If you haven't, well, then you're just a bad person.