Thursday, September 9, 2010

No Harmon, No Foul

I've got a secret.

I'll tell you if you promise not to tell anyone.

I'm a huge Texas Rangers fan. No, that's not the secret. The secret is that I was born in Minnesota. I didn't live there long enough to have any memories and my parents moved the family back to their homestate of Texas. Growing up in Texas gave roots to my love for the Rangers.

If I had a second favorite team it would be the Twins. Not because I remember living in Minnesota, but because my dad talked about them a lot when I was a kid. One of his favorite players was Harmon Killebrew. When I was old enough to play baseball and talk baseball with my dad, he would talk about Killebrew smashing homers. I didn't know who "Harmon" was, but I thought he had a cool last name.



I always thought I would add Harmon Killebrew to my player collection list someday. Of course, I thought I would be finished with Carl Yastrzemski by now. I do have a few "Killer" cards like this 1972 beauty. I think that is catcher Paul Ratliff lurking in the background.


This 1973 Killebrew card is one of my favorites. Killebrew was a power hitter all the way. He played 22 seasons and his numbers bear that out. He hit 573 homers, drove in 1,584 runs, struck out 1,699 times and hit .254. He won the 1969 A.L. MVP after walloping 49 homeruns and driving in 140. Killebrew was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984.

For the record, I will NOT be rooting for the Twins come playoff time. Unless of course, they go up against the Yankees.


2 comments:

  1. Heh - and I won't be rooting for the Rangers unless they play the Yanks. Best of luck to you (to a point!)

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  2. I've probably mentioned this before, but I've been to Minnesota only once. I was probably around 5 years old. My uncle lived there and all I can remember is going to some sort of mall and my uncle getting mad at his cat and throwing it in the closet.

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