Harmon Clayton Killebrew (June 29, 1936 - May 17, 2011), was signed by the Washington Senators in 1954 at the age of 17. Regarded as one of the most prolific power hitters in major league baseball history, Harmon “Killer” Killebrew amassed numbers matched only by the game’s very elite. Killebrew was a stocky 6-foot tall, 195-pound hitter with a compact swing that generated tremendous power. He became one of the AL's most feared power hitters of the 1960s, hitting 40 home runs in a season eight times. His finest season was 1969, when he hit 49 home runs, recorded 140 runs batted in (RBI), and won the AL Most Valuable Player Award. With quick hands and exceptional upper-body strength, Killebrew was known not just for the frequency of his home runs but also for their distance. He hit the longest measured home runs at Minnesota's Metropolitan Stadium, 520 ft (160 m), and Baltimore's Memorial Stadium, 471 ft (144 m), and was the first of just four batters to hit a baseball over the left field roof at Detroit's Tiger Stadium. In his 22 years of hard work and productivity, he was named American League All-Star 13 times, the 1969 American League Most Valuable Player and a six-time American League home run leader. At the time of his retirement, he hit more home runs (573) than any right-handed hitter. In 1984, Killebrew joined baseball’s immortals with his election into the Hall of Fame. Killebrew was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in December 2010, and died five months later.

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