Minnesota Twins Joe Mauer is among top five players in franchise history
Number 1—Killer
1B/3B/OF Harmon Killebrew
21 years with the Twins/Senators, 1954-1974
.256/.376/.509, 142 wRC+, 66.3 fWAR, 60.5 bWAR
fWAR=Fangraphs WAR
bWAR=Baseball-Reference WAR
Before the franchise moved from Washington to Minnesota, Harmon Killebrew played in parts of seven seasons with the Senators. He was just 18 when he made his major league debut and didn’t play much during his first five big league seasons. He finally broke out with a league-leading 42 home runs in 1959, then followed that up with 31 homers in 1960.
Older baseball fans may remember a TV show in 1960 called Home Run Derby that aired from January to July. It featured a head-to-head home run contest between some of the top sluggers in baseball at the time. Killebrew appeared on the show four times, beating Mickey Mantle and Rocky Colavito but losing to Ken Boyer and Willie Mays. It was the precursor to the Home Run Derby event held now on the day before the MLB All-Star Game.
The Senators moved to Minnesota before the 1961 season and Killebrew quickly became the franchise icon. He hosted a pregame show on WTCN-TV when the Twins were at home and a radio show in the offseason. On the field, he was launching home runs with regularity, leading the league five times as a Twin, including three straight years from 1962 to 1964.
In 1965, the Twins had their first great season in Minnesota. They won the AL pennant by seven games over the Chicago White Sox to advance to the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The series went seven games, with the Twins losing Game 7 against Sandy Koufax, 2-0. In the series, Killebrew hit .286 with a .444 on-base percentage. The rest of the team hit .186 with a .237 OBP.
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The Twins finished second in the AL in each of the next two seasons, including the heart-breaking 1967 season when they finished a single game behind the “Impossible Dream” Boston Red Sox. Killebrew led the league with 44 home runs and 131 RBI that season, but finished second in AL MVP voting to Carl Yastrzemski, who carried the Red Sox to the AL pennant with one of the best seasons anyone’s ever had.
After a 7th place finish in 1968, when Killebrew was limited to 100 games because of a hamstring injury, the Twins made the newly-created best-of-five playoff series in 1969. During the regular season, Killebrew led the league in games played, home runs, RBI, walks, and on-base percentage, which was enough for him to win the AL MVP Award. The advanced numbers suggest the award should have gone to Rico Petrocelli or Reggie Jackson, but Jackson himself said at the time, “If Harmon Killebrew isn’t the league’s number-one player, I have never seen one.”
The Twins lost in the playoffs in 1969 and again in 1970, which was Killebrew’s last great season. He played four more years with the Twins and one final season with the Kansas City Royals in 1975. Late in his career, he had his number 3 retired. He finished with 573 career home runs, which was fifth all-time. He’s now 12th on the all-time list, between Marc McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro.
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In 1984, Killebrew was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his fourth year on the ballot. Joining him in Cooperstown were Luis Aparicio and Don Drysdale. Killebrew was the first Minnesota Twin to be inducted into the Hall and the top player in franchise history, at least in my book.