Talk:Harmon Killebrew

Odds and ends

Here are some things that I've heard about Harmon Killebrew that I do not feel comfortable inserting into the main article.

1. There is a Killegbrew Drive in Payette, Idaho (I've seen it but I don't remember the exact name). Killebrew Dr. is right 2. Killebrew paid for the domed field house at Payette High School. 3. Used to own the Ford dealership in Ontario, Oregon (Killebrew Motors), across the river from Payette. 4. He has the lowest lifetime batting average of anybody in the Hall of Fame. 5. There's an autographed Twins jersey of his in the Minnesota State Historical Museum in St. Paul (seen it). 68.116.40.228 (talk) 21:28, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Do you have sources for these? Wknight94 ^talk 21:48, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

As far as batting average, at first blush I would have to say if it is true, it would have to be qualified as being among players other than pitchers.Justus R (talk) 00:24, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Ray Schalk, catcher for the White Sox and Giants between 1912-1929, has the lowest batting average of any non pitcher in the Hall of Fame at .253. So Harmon is close but no cigar. Ckruschke (talk) 19:36, 14 May 2011 (UTC)Ckruschke

Mormon?

Harmon Killebrew (just died today) was also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I think that is something important that should be added to the article. (It explains a lot of the reasons as to his character and kind nature.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.12.72.71 (talk) 16:22, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

I did my due diligence this AM and although I can find a few references in news articles saying "Harmon was a Mormon" and/or "he was baptized into the faith in 1966", it is all of the anecdotal variety in throwaway lines. Even the Mormon sites (such as Desert Times and MormonWiki) say nothing beyond the two items above, which is odd considering I would think that they'd at least say "he attended X temple" or something like that. Nowhere does Harmon either confirm or deny these "reports".

As an aside, I also think it's odd that he was baptized in 1966 and not as a youngster in Idaho (where there is at least a little bit of a Mormon community). Growing up in MN, I can tell you that there were alot of Lutherens and Methodists and even some Catholics, but I've never heard of any Mormon communities. In addition, his memorial is in a non-denominational church in Peoria, AZ. I don't know much about the faith, but I'm assuming that they could have held his memorial at the temple where he attended(?).Ckruschke (talk) 13:33, 19 May 2011 (UTC)Ckruschke

Harmon was a member of the church until the mid to late 1970s when he was no longer a member. His parents were not very religious. His first wife Elaine Roberts was a member of the church, he later joined between 1966 and 1967. Buchert83 (talk) 22:06, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Killebrew Root Beer

http://www.rootbeerreviews.com/brews/killebrew.php The bottle pictured doesn't have the label wrapped around the neck. The current advertising slogan is "With the Hall of Fame Taste" the number 3 and a facsimile of Harmon Killebrew's signature. Bizzybody (talk) 06:31, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

While interesting, I'm not sure of an easy way to wiggle that into the article, since the personal/legacy section is fairly big already. I'll see what I can do. Wizardman _{Operation Big Bear} 21:07, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Dead link, and you might run into fair-use problems in any case. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:13, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Found a better ref for that: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/steve_rushin/05/16/harmon.killebrew/ Wizardman _{Operation Big Bear} 21:22, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Excellent writeup about the great Harmon. What's the deal about the label wrapped around the neck, which Bizzybody mentioned above? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:25, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Harmons son Kenny owns the Root Beer Company, he and Harmon founded it in the early 1990s. Kenny still runs it today Buchert83 (talk) 22:07, 16 June 2019 (UTC)

Killebrew statistics and anecdotes

It is worth noting that there is no right-handed hitter who has eclipsed Killebrew's HR total without the use of steroids.

The story of Killebrew visiting the burn victim in the NYC hospital may be worth including as well (not hard to find a source for this one). When visiting NYC for a baseball game, Killebrew stopped at the hospital to visit a kid who asked to see him (something of an early make-a-wish type visit). The kid asked him to hit a home run for him that night and he said "I'll try", then hit two. The next time Killebrew was in NYC for a game, the kid was out of the hospital and Killebrew invited him to be his personal guest at the game - giving him great seats and his own bat.

74.79.62.75 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 01:29, 26 April 2012 (UTC).

College?

I was doing some AWB tagging, and this article is in Category:College of Idaho Coyotes baseball players, hence the catch. Did he attend College of Idaho or not? B Ref says nothing of the sort, and a Google News Archive search appears to suggest this is a miscategorization. – Muboshgu (talk) 00:57, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

He planned on attending the Univ of Oregon, but was signed as a "bonus baby" out of HS (I can verify the Baseball-Reference text - http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Harmon_Killebrew - is correct). I think someone added that cat as a knee jerk "he's from Idaho" reaction. Good catch - never saw it! Ckruschke (talk) 16:45, 18 September 2013 (UTC)Ckruschke

Legacy, career stats place at time of retirement

The legacy section has this: "In his career, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, which as of 2011 is currently 11th all-time, 1,584 RBIs, 1,559 walks, which is currently 15th all-time..." I think it would be interesting to show where he ranked at the time of retirement as well as in a recent years. Of course, that would be true of articles about other sports stars who hold or held important records. 209.131.231.112 (talk) 02:44, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Dishes redundancy

Hello, all. The "Just washing the dishes, I guess" anecdote is included twice, which seems like overkill.The tamale (talk) 13:09, 26 April 2018 (UTC)

Killlebrew Root Beer: Establishing significance

An add I made linking to Killebrew Root Beer was swiftly deleted. Here is an attempt to establish significance. Discussion of Killebrew Root Beer appears in stories for Hermon Killebrew's death across multiple credible sources, both ESPN and Sports Illustrated (Granted likely both are pulling from an Associated Press article). It has also appeared in writeups for the LA Times and Forbes, both of which mention Hermon Killebrew by name. I am perfectly aware of Wikipedia's attitude towards Forbes contributors, but I still think it bears mentioning. From a local perspective, a mention also appeared in at least one story for WCCO/NBC. A non-zero number of Minnesotans are likely growing up with their first exposure to the Killebrew name being the root beer brand, rather than the man. I think it is worth a mention either in the post-baseball career section or the legacy section. Zetagaming (talk) 14:09, 12 February 2024 (UTC)