Remembering Harm'

For the Twins and Twins fans, this week has mainly been about celebrating the life of Harmon Killebrew.


Wearing 3s

On Monday night—the first home game since Harmon’s passing—everyone was encouraged to wear number 3’s in Harmon’s honor. I visited Harmon’s statue before the game, where it was surprisingly quiet for the amount of people gathered there.








I was very impressed with the amount of people who wore 3's.









Denard Span got in the spirit before the game, signing many autographs for fans.



The team also paid tribute.






Harmon Killebrew's Memorial

Tonight, the team held a memorial for Harmon. I visited Harmon's statue before the game, and there were even more flowers and notes left. I also noticed, however, several people had taken single flowers out of bouquets and left a few at Kirby's statue. That was very touching to me—what a wonderful organization with the best fans in the world.

I assume those who care watched the memorial themselves. All I can say is this:

My favorite part was when Thome surprised us, sitting in the 523 ft. seat.





The saddest part was when sir Rodney Carew broke down crying at the podium, while recalling his last visit with Harmon.



The most touching part was when Nita—Harmon's wife—gave us his last days, his last words, and his last expression of how thankful he was for his fans.



Nita: You thought you couldn't do public speaking—but you did so, so well. You definietly made Harmon proud.





Other Pictures:

Hank Arron, Jim Kaat, and Michael Cuddyer

Mudcat Grant sings "It's a Wonderful World"

Cuddyer, Morneau, and Tolbert.

Love for Number Three.


Cuddyer steps up to speak

Fans, players, family, and 3.

Baseball listeners.

Thome mourns.

Nita Killebrew.

Thome and Hank.

Hank and Thome celebrate Harmon Killebrew.


www.HarmonKillebrewFoundation.org

www.StandUp2Cancer.org

Some other bloggers have also shared their thoughts, check it out:
SethSpeaks.net: Thoughts on the Killebrew Tribute
North Dakota Twins Fan: My View of Killebrew's Memorial

Being Harmon Killebrew

I never got to watch Harmon Killebrew play. As a Minnesotan child of the ‘80s, I watched a different hero. But I have always been aware of who Harmon Killebrew was, and what he did, because Harmon was my Mom’s hero, and my Mom is the reason I love baseball.

She has told me her stories many times. Growing up as the youngest of ten children on a dairy farm in northern Minnesota, my Mom and her older brother would listen to games on the radio and act them out in the yard. Her brother—the second youngest, but still seven years older than her—always got to be Harmon Killebrew. “I had to be Bob Allison,” Mom always says.

In 2006, the Twins won the AL Central on the last day of the season, giving them home field advantage against the A’s in the first round of the playoffs. At one of the games, my Mom saw Harmon sitting in the stands a few sections away. Fans didn’t recognize him. My Mom—in her Harmon Killebrew throwback jersey—approached him after the game. “Harmon, you have always been my hero,” she said. She told him her story about acting out the games as a girl. Of course, Harmon replied, “Bob Allison was a great player to be.” And even though he doesn’t usually sign jerseys, he signed her jersey.

My Mom wore that jersey to the Twins game last Friday, and when she turned her back and they put her on the jumbotron at the end of the game, everybody cheered. My Mom didn’t even realize she was on the jumbotron. I had to explain to her that’s why everyone was just cheering.

Of course, the secret is, my Mom, as a girl, also used to pretend to play baseball in the yard by herself, when her brothers were not around. And then, she got to be Harmon Killebrew.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harmon Killebrew while attending a charity banquet for the Harmon Killebrew Foundation several years ago. It is a great charity, and I urge fans to give something in Harmon’s honor, if you can. It would be the type of thing Harmon would do—and we would all be better people if we tried to be even just a little more like Harmon Killebrew.

Thank you, Harmon, for playing the game, and more importantly, being such a wonderful person.

Light Someone's Shoelaces on Fire...

... because Bert Blyleven is a 2011 MLB Hall of Fame inductee!!

Yes, the Master of the Hot Foot (GREAT instructional video starring Bert himself) was finally elected to MLB's HOF today, receiving 79.7% of the vote. He will be inducted along with Roberto Alomar.

Per Minnesota Twins on Facebook, here is a current picture of Target Field's scoreboard:




Who wants to bet the new bronze statute at Target Field of an unknown player will be Bert Blyleven? The three current players with bronze statutes at Target Field are the Twins' Hall of Famers--Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, and Kirby Puckett.


In honor of Bert's accomplishments, I provide the following videos for your enjoyment.









Lest we forget Bert's distinguished broadcasting career:




Congratulations Bert!!

Huh? Why Didn't They Have Twins Fest at MOA?

The red chair in MOA, commemorating the longest home-run hit in Twins history, by Harmon Killebrew at Met Stadium (where the Mall of America now stands).

Harmon Killebrew has cancer,* and they don’t even move Twins Fest to Mall of America? Killebrew Drive? On top of Old Met Stadium, where he and the Twins and the Vikings played? Hello?

I haven’t been to Mall of America in a few years, but I can’t imagine there isn’t empty space there. Seriously, has anyone been on the 4th floor of MOA lately? I bet there’s a lot of space up there.

The Twins must be scaling back this year’s Twins Fest activities in light of the Metrodome Collapse. Personally, I was really looking forward to visiting my beloved Metrodome, so it’s a real bummer. But they could have made it big at MOA. Even I feel like I should go visit home-plate in the middle of the amusement park formerly known as Camp Snoopy.

I suppose maybe (?) the crowds will be smaller in Blaine—if I make it out there?

Seriously though—why didn’t they have it at Mall of America?

* I’ve been a little emotional about this all day, and am not ready to address it yet on my blog. Thanks for understanding.


EDIT:
If you are feeling charitable, give to the Harmon Killebrew Foundation. I have gone to his charity golf tournament banquet, and I know his foundation really does a great job helping disabled children, so it certainly is worth giving to.

Legends Weekend: Can We Do This Before Every Game?

All pictures in this post can be SUPER enlarged by clicking on them!

Last weekend the Twins celebrated their 50th Season with a slew of celebrations: Pictures with Twins Alumni near gate 34 before the game; announcing the 50 Greatest Twins on the field; Greg Gagne’s induction into the Twins Hall of Fame; Thome tying and passing McGwire on the all-time homerun list; awesome throwback uniforms all three days; and, of course, the Twins Legends game. It was basically the greatest weekend of my life.

I was lucky enough to go to the games Friday and Sunday. For Friday, I was able to score some pretty sweet seats close behind the plate.




The 50 Greatest Twins were announced on the field before the game. The whole thing was really cool—there was a little video for each player, with different narrators talking about the player for each one. For example:

Corey Koskie (Narrated by Justin Morneau)

My favorite one was when Theresa Mauer read the bio for Joe Mauer. I think I cried.

Jeff Reardon (and if you look real close in the lower left corner, you can see Eddie Guardado turned around waving at my Mom!)

Brad Radke waves to fans.

The last Twin to be announced--Harmon Killbrew--takes the field.

Harmon waves to fans as Thome is shown cheering on the jumbotron.

The PA guy announced that Harmon Killebew was going to catch the first pitch. I'm not sure if that was a surprise on him, because he looked around a little confused for a second. Luckily, Gardy ran out and did the dirty work for the Killer.

The game was nice. Some crazy guy named Fox pitched, and the defense was able to squeak out the win.

In the 8th inning, former Twins all-star Christian Guzman pinch ran for Josh Hamilton.

I heard shouts of “GUZZZ” come out from the crowd, but nothing too crazy. I had been excited to see him myself, so I yelled pretty loud.

Before the game on Sunday, Twins alumni played the Twins’ first ever Legends Game at Target Field. There were Twins everywhere!

The guys warmed up and took batting practice on the field for about an hour before the game. They were all having a blast. I'm willing to bet Herbk had already put a few back in the clubhouse.

Not everyone took batting practice--but I swear every time I turned around Corey Koskie was in or just coming out of the cage. He seemed very exciting to be playing ball on a field in front of a crowd again.

It was really fun just to watch all the guys socializing on the field and in the dugout.

Ron Washington, donning a Twins uniform, gets secret information from Jon Rauch and Matt Capps.

The Killer

Radke rubbing Eddie Guardado's head in the dugout.

Radke smiling after rubbing Eddie's head in the dugout.


TK and Cristian Guzman catching up.

Valencia looking pretty gitty.

Jim Perry checking over the lineup.

Before the game, all the alumni were announced.

Greg Gagne--the newest member of the Twins Fall of Fame.


Mudcat couldn't get out when they called his name, but Jim Perry came to help a minute later.

Apparently, Rod Carew refuses to wear a jersey after his retirement.


Men of stature.

When the Twins took the field, an old version of "We're Going to Win Twins!" accompanied them. You can hear some parts in the video below.

The game itself was absolutely hilarious. Guys were falling all over the place, giving mid-inning interviews, hugging, laughing, and trying to play.

How incredibly happy does Gagne look just to catch a ball?

Koskie back at Third.

Bert on the mound!

Bert tries to bean Dazzle!

Bert laughing at Gladden (and looking like he's been eating lots of birthday cake, too).

Dazzle then hits one out to right center field--and AL NEWMAN makes a great play!

Ron Washington up to bat.

Bert tries to bean Ron Washington; gets warned by Home Plate Umpire Don Shelby.

Ron Washington gets a hit (and yes--Eddie Guardado is playing 2nd base!)

Tom and Ron share a tender moment.

GET IT HRBIE!!

Hrbek gave this explanation in an on-field interview: "I'm used to that bouncy turf!"

Al Newman batting.


Eddie Guardado batting!


JIM PERRY BATTING! (He even got on base!)


Eddie later substituted himself back into the game to pitch (apparently going for the Cesar Tovar!)

The Minnies beat the Pauls 5 to 1, or something like that. No one really cared. In fact, I'm not even sure if everyone stayed on the same team for the entire game.

Afterward, the players all came out for a group photo.

Jim Perry helps Mudcat off the field after the game.

An absolutely awesome day. If only Kirby could have been there too...

CapitalBabs over at Kunuckleballs was also at the legends game, and has more great pictures. She also has links to video clips from the game.

Also, please note--FSN is re-broadcasting the entire Legends Game this Friday at 9:30!

Many, but not all, of the pictures are courtesy of my Mom! (The others are mine, of course!)