Harmon Killebrew Fighting Esophageal Cancer: Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew, 74, has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer and expects to make a full recovery from the "very serious" condition, he said in a statement released by the Minnesota Twins. When Twins designated hitter Jim Thome passed Killebrew on the career home run list in August, he received congratulations from Killebrew. "I tell everyone he's too nice to be a baseball player," former teammate Tony Oliva said.
A childhood hero of mine, and a genuinely nice guy. I had the honor of golfig with Harmen once, and he was far more interested in us, and what we did, than I was expecting.
He hit one of his drives that day off of a three foot tee, not your average golfer in that he had one of his bats in his bag. He only hit it about 175, but it was straight down the middle of the fairway. A class act, and I wish him the best!
posted by dviking at 02:16 AM on January 01, 2011