Harmon Killebrew ends fight against cancer (entering hospice, all options exhausted)

Yahoo ^ | 5/13/11 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

MINNEAPOLIS, (AP) -- Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew says he will no longer fight esophageal cancer and is settling in for the final days of his life.

The Minnesota Twins released a statement on Friday from Killebrew, saying he has "exhausted all options" for treatment and the cancer is incurable.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Prayers for his suffering to be eased.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>The only part of the old Metropolitan Staduium that remains is the seat that Killebrew hit with the longest homerun there. It is located in its same spot in the present Mall of America:

There’s also a plaque in the floor of the mall at the spot of the old home plate...

Approximate GPS coordinates: N44.85508 W93.24270 — give or take 10 feet or so...

[ComputerGuy]

I remember the '65 World Series - I was in Hospital Corps School at Great Lakes, IL. The Twins beat both Koufax and Drysdale and went up 2-0. After that, it was all downhill for the Twins :)
They were but the first Washington Senators team to abandon DC. The next absconders became the Texas Rangers.

[sand lake bar]

Mormans are great people and God loves ‘em.
Enough of that.
Harmon Killebrew was a great ball player. That’s coming from a Tiger fan. Comfort and peace to him and his family.

[RatRipper]

Hope he reads FR. He is one of the baseball greats of my childhood, and a wonderful man to boot. Thanks for sharing your life with us big man! Great memories!

[AppyPappy]

Dude, you need to reign in the obsession sometimes.

Note: I am a Methodist.

[over3Owithabrain]

Killebrew put up some whopping numbers in a long and productive 22 year major league career.
While nowhere near a .300 hitter, he drew a ton of walks and wound up with an impressive career on base percentage of .376, which is way above average. His lifetime slugging pct is over .500 and cranked 573 homeruns and over 1500 RBIs.

Twice he had an OPS (on base plus slug pct, now considered the most telling offensive stat) over 1.000 for a season, which is rarefied air.

[LS]

I had that card. He was a great hitter.

[sand lake bar]

Anyone else remember the game, I think it was in 67, when the Twins no-hit the Tigers but the Tigers won the game?

[sand lake bar]

Or was that the Orioles? (Sorry)

[PDGearhead]

Prayers up for him and his family.

[Retired Greyhound]

There is a street in Downtown Minny near the Metrodome named after him.

I went to Minny with my wife in the summer of 2000. Someone was giving her directions to get downtown. When she got off the phone, she told me we had to go to “Killaboo” street.

I told her that “Killebrew” was a very famous baseball player, and she had a great laugh at that. My pet name for her became “Boo”, something that endures to this day.

He was a great one in all respects. I am very sad about this news.

[ratzoe]

**Or was that the Orioles? (Sorry)**

In 1967, Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles pitched a combined no-hitter, but lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers.(wikipedia)

[sand lake bar]

Can I have partial credit for correcting myself?

[machogirl]

A couple days ago I was looking for something in the garage and one of the pictures on the top of the stack was my kids with Harmon. (taken about 10 years ago, he signed their baseballs too).

[ratzoe]

**Can I have partial credit for correcting myself?**

Certainly..just made me curious cuz I had a vague memory of it.

My first memories of baseball had to do with the old Senators(twins), then the new Senators(rangers), a brief flirtation with the O’s and now the Nationals..Other than Mantle, Killebrew is probably 1 of the first names I remember, something about his name was unforgetable for a 6,7 yr old.

[savedbygrace]

They used to say he threw a radio pitch. You could hear it, but you couldn’t see it.

HA!

With all that talent, why did they almost always stay in the basement?

[Spaghetti Man]

I belive it was the 1968 All Star game from the Houston Astrodome.

[jtonn]

When the Twins are in trouble,
with their backs to the wall,
they call on the Killer
to murder the ball.

From an old Twins coloring book I had as a kid.

Sadness.

[Always Independent]

I saw the Killer blast one into the right field bleechers at Yankee stadium when I was a kid. It was the last Yankee game with many of the Yankee/Twins greats I ever saw. Twins won that night 5-0.