Minnesota Twins Great Harmon Killebrew Dead

Harmon Killebrew has lost his battle with cancer Tuesday at the age of 74. Killebrew was one of the best baseball players of all time, and already has a well-deserved spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He had been battling cancer since a diagnosis back in December; it was an incurable strain that he simply couldn't overcome.

ESPN reported that Killebrew died at his Scottsdale, Ariz., home. The website also reported that he had been receiving treatment at a branch of the Mayo Clinic near his home. This follows statements that he had issued Friday where he revealed that he had "exhausted all options" when dealing with his illness.

Killebrew is going to long be remembered as the best baseball player to ever put on a Minnesota Twins uniform. He originally signed with the Washington Senators in 1954, and went with the team when the franchise was moved to Minnesota. He would stay with the organization until 1975, where he ended his career with one final season as a member of the Kansas City Royals.

In 1984, Killebrew was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame; at the time, his statistics were some of the best in the record books. It was a bit shocking that it took him four times on the ballot to be elected to the HOF, but some sports writers held his batting average against him.

Over his 22-year career, Killebrew posted a .256 batting average to go along with a .376 on base percentage and a .509 slugging percentage. His power numbers were what really separated him from the rest of the players of his time, as he posted eight seasons with 40 or more home runs from 1959-1970. His best year was probably in 1969, when he played in all 162 games, had 49 home runs and 140 RBI, but also hit .276. In addition to all that, he had a league-leading 140 walks that helped garner him the American League MVP.

A 13-time All-Star and winner of the 1971 Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, Killebrew will forever be one of the best hitters from his era. The baseball world has truly lost one of its stars with his passing; there simply aren't a lot of players like him left. Most pitchers of his time already knew that, resulting in Killebrew leading the league in intentional walks three years. Hopefully the Twins now do something nice to honor his memory, even though he already has his number on the wall of Target Field.

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