On Tuesday, baseball fans in Minnesota and around the country lost one of the sports greatest players to cancer. Harmon Killebrew was a legend with the bat. He was a strong baseball player with a drive and fortitude that is unseen in today’s professional sports.
In Bloomington, Minnesota the Mall of America sits on the land of the old Met Stadium where the greats like Killebrew and Rod Carew used to play. It was here that Harmon hit one of the longest shots ever made in a baseball park. It was a shot that landed in the second deck bleachers. It was such a feat, that shortly there after they had changed the color of the seat where the ball landed to yellow so it would stick out in the stadium and be easily recognized. Today, that seat hangs in it’s almost original place on the southwest wall inside the theme park in the mall… continuing to remind people of the amazing hit that took place on that day in June of 1967.
I met him a couple of times before in a south suburb of the Twin Cities. The first time, we were in a local Applebees having some late afternoon cocktails. Someone saw him standing by the bar where he was waiting for his son, who lived in the area, to join him. On a whim we called him over. He sat and talked with us for 15 minutes or so. Gracious and classy as can be. Never acting bothered or irritated by this group of people interrupting his day. He was the ultimate in gentleman with us.
Last year, I took this shot on the opening day of Target Field. It is one of my favorites. I had titled it “Love for Harmon” to reflect the emotion of the girls face as she clung to the statue of the true sports hero. Today it is simply titled :
“Honoring a Fallen Hero”
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