Killebrew: Consummate slugger, gentleman

Harmon Killebrew's moniker, "Killer," was more than just a play on his last name. It was an ironic perfect fit, the way the quietest person is called "Gabby" and the biggest guy in the class is called "Tiny." That is to say, Killebrew was menacing only to baseballs, not to people.

One of the greatest sluggers of all time was a true gentle man, with a deliberate space between the two words. The Hall of Famer and Minnesota Twins great retained his dignified personality right through the final days of his 74 years, to the week before his death Tuesday morning of esophageal cancer at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home.

He issued a release through the Twins and the Baseball Hall of Fame on Friday saying that his condition had become untreatable and that he would enter the final phase of his life in hospice care. He praised hospice practice, for which he had been an advocate since he was treated for a life-threatening collapsed lung in 1990.

Killebrew was genuinely modest about ranking 11th all-time on baseball's home run list with 573. His approach to life was mild and patient, except when he got in the batter's box and unleashed a swing strengthened by teenage summers in Idaho, lifting 10-gallon jugs working on a milk truck.

The Twins power hitter was a major star in the 1960s, when baseball was indisputably the national pastime and when the home run was the game's great calling card. Killebrew was known as much for his high, majestic shots as for having been the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1969. "He was baseball's version of Paul Bunyan," Hall of Fame president Jeff Idelson said. "Off the field . . . he was so down to earth, you would never realize he was a baseball legend."

Twins president Dave St. Peter said on Sirius-XM's MLB Network channel: "If there's a Mount Rushmore for Minnesota sports, Harmon is on it."

He remained true to his Idaho upbringing. At his 1984 Hall of Fame induction, Killebrew spoke about how he and his brother used to play exuberantly in the front yard, causing their mother to worry about the lawn. Their father replied, "We're not raising grass, we're raising boys."

As a big-leaguer, Killebrew was unfazed at having his best work overlooked. His 44 homers in 1967 tied for the league lead but were overshadowed by the fact that he shared the title with Carl Yastrzemski, who was credited with the Triple Crown. Perhaps Killebrew's greatest year was 1961, when he hit 46 home runs, had 122 RBIs and finished with a career-high .288 batting average. It was overshadowed by the home run race between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, won by Maris' then-record 61.

The New York chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America saluted the 50th anniversary of Killebrew's overshadowed season this past January. At its annual awards banquet, the writers honored the slugger with their Casey Stengel You Could Look It Up Award.

This reporter was assigned to do a story with Killebrew for the program. In late December, he finally returned a phone call and profusely apologized for having taken so long to do so. "There's been just so much going on," he said, not mentioning that what had been "going on" was a series of tests that days later would reveal he had cancer.

During the interview, he was good-natured in remembering how, unlike many New Yorkers, he rooted for Maris down the stretch in 1961 -- an Idaho guy pulling for a North Dakota guy. He cheerfully recalled going on a barnstorming tour that winter with Maris and Orioles slugger Jim Gentile. They had a home run contest and Killebrew won it. "Wherever we went, everyone wanted to talk to Roger, so Jim and I just hit," he said.

The Twins erected a statue of him outside their new ballpark and have dedicated Gate 3 in honor of his retired number. The street leading to the Mall of America -- site of the old Metropolitan Stadium -- is called Killebrew Drive.

"I'm an Idaho guy," he said, "and I found that Minnesota people were a lot like me."

Baseball people might argue that there was no one quite like Harmon Killebrew.