Killebrew, 1936-2011

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/steve_rushin/05/16/harmon.killebrew/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t11_a1

Any folks on the forum from Minnesota or Idaho? You've lost a notable baseball son. I'm a proud owner of his '55T RC. On which, yes, his signature can be very clearly read (even if it isn't real).

Lots of us from MN. At least 5 and maybe more. Also a number of former MN residents.

sad day in mn sports lore...RIP Harmon...you were quite the class act!

My introduction to vintage baseball cards. From 5th grade to age of 20 put together one of the sickest Killebrew collections out there. Wish I would've kept my one of a kind proofs, milk duds boxes, and other tough issues. Rip Killer a huge loss for Twins fans and all of Baseball one of the greatest ever and absolutely wonderful human being.

A sad day. Great player: great person.

I am from Minnesota as well and I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Killebrew a couple of years ago. Even though I only had a couple of minutes with him, the first impression that I got was that he was a complete gentleman. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk with me and my crew and to sign autographs for all of us. It's funny, but the thing that I remember most about the brief time I had with him was not that he was a HOF baseball player, it was how he was so generous and kind. People like him are far and few and he will be dearly missed.

Back in the 80s I had a bunch of Twins wirephotos that would get signed when players were at shows I set up at or attended. I had a number of Killebrew photos and had him sign them. When he got to the picture of him and Cal Emer he asked if I would sell it to him. I told him that the photo was for my collection, so he signed it and I moved on. When I was selling off my collection he happened to be in the Bay Area signing at a show so I went to that show and gave him that photo. He was shocked and said he remembered when I first brought the photo to him. We chatted for a bit and he asked if I wanted anything. I told him no. There was no point since I wasn't going to be collecting anymore.

Never met the guy but was a huge fan from birth. When I was in second grade I wrote to Harmon and told him how I wanted to be a baseball player like him and also sent a card to get signed...I was pretty excited when this arrived! This was a yearly show-and-tell item for me for many grades.

Harmon was my baseball idol as a child. I always remembered that he hit a home run in the first game I ever went to in a rain shortened game. I have the program from the game and a scorecard was inside, my Mom did her best to keep score, it was against the A's and my memories were correct, Harmon hit a Home run and so did Reggie Jackson.

Class act and a credit to the human race,

Lee

bowlingshoeguy wrote:Harmon was my baseball idol as a child. I always remembered that he hit a home run in the first game I ever went to in a rain shortened game. I have the program from the game and a scorecard was inside, my Mom did her best to keep score, it was against the A's and my memories were correct, Harmon hit a Home run and so did Reggie Jackson.

Class act and a credit to the human race,

Lee

How many people can say they were at a baseball game where both Harmon Killebrew and Reggie Jackson hit a home run? That's a fantastic memory. Thanks for sharing.