 Legendary hitter and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew passed away
Nederlands
IN MEMORIAM 
...Harmon Killebrew...
(1936 - 2011)
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 SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (USA) -
Legendary powerhitter Harmon Killebrew, who was a popular player of the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins, passed away on Tuesday due to esophageal cancer, a rare disease, at the age of 74.
Killebrew is the fifth Hall of Famer who passed away in somewhat over a year.
In May last year, pitcher Robin Roberts passed away and later in the year, Manager Sparky Anderson, Bob Feller and Duke Snider.
Until 2009, Killebrew was the recordholder in the American League with 573 homeruns hit by a righthanded hitter.
In that year, he was passed by Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.
Killebrew was known for his long homeruns and was the Homerun King six times.
In 1962, he was the first player to hit a homerun over the leftfield-roof in Tiger Stadium in Detroit.
In 22 seasons, he hit 40 or more homeruns eight times.
Killebrew is one of only three players to have hit at least 100 homeruns at three different positions, third base, first base and leftfield.
...Harmon Killebrew during his...
...Hall of Fame-election in 1984... |
In his career, Killebrew had 1584 runs batted in (36th on the all-time list).
He was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1984.
His uniform number 3 was the first to be retired by the Twins in 1975.
Killebrew played in 2435 games and never was ejected.
He therefore was frequently called a gentleman on the field.
The righthanded Killebrew made his Major League-debut in 1954 playing for the Washington Senators, where he played through the 1960 season.
When the Senators became the Minnesota Twins thereafter, Killebrew went on to play for the Twins for 14 more seasons (1961-1974), before finishing his career with the Kansas City Royals in 1975.
In his 22 seasons, Killebrew hit 2086 basehits and scored 1283 runs.
His 573 homeruns are eleventh on the all-time list.
Killebrew played in 13 All Star Games and was the American League MVP in 1969.
(May 17)
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