Baseball Hall of Famer and Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew said on Friday that he’s ending his battle with esophageal cancer, and plans live out the final days of his life in hospice care. It’s not a story with a lot of funny to make it pop online (and I’m sorry about the title), but if you’ve got any reverence whatsoever for professional sports you’ll understand the importance of Killebrew, if only in how much he means to the people who saw him play.
“It is with profound sadness that I share with you that my continued battle with esophageal cancer is coming to an end,” Killebrew said in a statement released by the Baseball Hall of Fame.
“With the continued love and support of my wife, Nita, I have exhausted all options with respect to controlling this awful disease. My illness has progressed beyond my doctors’ expectation of cure.”
That is just a punch in the stomach. If we can find some sort of context in the stats he collected, his 573 career home runs are the 11th most in baseball. He played 21 of his 22 years in the Bigs in the Minnesota/Washington Senators organization, and brought in over 1,500 RBI. The Twins retired his uniform number in 1975 and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. He’s not going away, no matter where he goes.
“I look forward to spending my final days in comfort and peace with Nita by my side.”
Good luck, Mr. Killebrew.
[Reuters]
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Thoughts and prayers to Mr. Killebrew.
God bless this guy and everything he did for the game. I’m not a Minnesota native, but I know a good deal of what he’s accomplished and it’s nothing to sneeze at. I hope the remainder of his life is lived out according to his wishes and his family understands what he means to the baseball world.
In closing, I’ll leave you with the work of Dylan Thomas, delivered by another legend: Mr. Rodney Dangerfield.
[tinyurl.com]
At least he’s not gonna go out like the Kirbster.
From an old Sports Illustrated article:
“‘Come on, Harm. You must have some unusual hobby.’ ‘Just washing the dishes, I guess.’”
Hopefully, in the intervening time, he has figured out what a hobby is.
Anyway, this is really sad. I hope he finds that comfort and peace.
Killer will be teaching a lot of BP in Heaven. One if the all-time greats. I’ll take his numbers over anyone in the past 30 years.
Although the words I am going to use are cliche, they are perfect when talking about Mr. Killebrew.
He is a true class act.
It always warms my heart when I see how active and involved he has been with the Twins organization, not to mention the amazing things he has done for Twins Territory. It’s hard to find that kind of loyalty, love, and dedication these days, let alone such an amazing source of knowledge and wisdom about a game all of us here love. I’ve always felt really good knowing that our guys were in Spring Training being coached by men like Harmon Killebrew, learning not only from his skill, but his heart and his passion for the game and the Minnesota organization.
Thank you so much for everything, Mr. Killebrew.
Was lucky enough to see his 500th home run. Nurses, help him knock one more out of the park.