Harmon Killebrew is not just a Minnesota Twins legend, but he’s one of the game’s all-time greats, slugging 573 career home runs (and subsequently getting punished for having a relatively low career batting average – .256 – as he was a fourth-ballot Hall of Famer). But there’s no denying that no one had a better individual 1969 (nice) season than Hammerin’ Harmon. After tearing his left hamstring slipping and doing the splits while trying to field a ground ball in the 1968 All-Star Game, Killebrew returned the next season with a vengeance.
After a long seven months of rehabilitation, and not even being fully recovered, Killebrew came back and tied his career-high with 49 home runs (which led all of baseball), setting a new career high with 140 runs batted in. He also set career highs in runs (106), walks (145) and on-base percentage (.427), leading the way for the league’s best offense and an American League West division crown. The Twins would eventually fall to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Champion Series, mainly because the O’s would avoid pitching to Killebrew at all costs, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Killebrew was a monster in 1969.
Nice.
