It's been a rough few days for Twin City sports fans...

[RJ_Daley]

Sure, it is all part of life, but these two stories about a Twin Cities legend and a young athlete calling the TC home, are particularly sad in one day.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_18057280

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_18061500

[Jason Topp]

I will never forget my first Twins game in 1973. Bat day. Mickey Lolich v. Jim Kaat. We got there early for batting practice and I was mesmerized by the seats in the upper deck that had been marked to indicate where some of Killebrew's longest shots landed. 

The game was a blowout 8-2.  Our bleacher seats were down the 3rd base line and probably would cost $75 today. Dick McAulliffe hit a grand slam for the Tigers.  Killebrew played and it shocked me that a guy that old played baseball.  Now, I am far older than he was at the time. 

It was a magical 7th birthday for a kid from rural Iowa. 

[Terry Lavin]

Harmon Killebrew is a legend, a good man and one of the faces of a proud franchise.

I didn't know or follow the hockey player who died, but this business of concussions, brain injury and death in sports is beyond frightening.  There are athletes in the grave because of chronic traumatic encephalopathy who have never had a documented concussion.

[Jud_T]

I saw Killebrew hit one clear out of the old Comiskey Park, which I believe was only done a handful of times.  The bat looked like a toothpick in his hands.  A legend from what seems another time now...

[Doug Wright]

As a kid growing up in western NY I had no business rooting for the Twins, but I did in part because of Harmon Killebrew. When we would occasionally see the Twins on the Saturday game of the week he was mesmerizing with his power. One of the best swings of a baseball bat I've ever seen--compact and with terrific leverage.

Here is an old Home Run Derby episode between Harmon and Mickey Mantle:

http://jockpost.com/tribute-harmon-killebrew-mickey-mantle-classic-home-run-derby-video/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibR6njQphaI

[Carl Nichols]

I will never forget my first Twins game in 1973. Bat day. Mickey Lolich v. Jim Kaat. We got there early for batting practice and I was mesmerized by the seats in the upper deck that had been marked to indicate where some of Killebrew's longest shots landed. 

The game was a blowout 8-2.  Our bleacher seats were down the 3rd base line and probably would cost $75 today. Dick McAulliffe hit a grand slam for the Tigers.  Killebrew played and it shocked me that a guy that old played baseball.  Now, I am far older than he was at the time. 

It was a magical 7th birthday for a kid from rural Iowa. 

Dick McAulliffe was a member at the country club where I worked in the bag room for a few years during high school.  He had forearms the size of Popeye's, and incredibly (to me at least) he played entirely cross-handed.  He was a very good player and probably came close to winning the club championship in his late 40's/early 50's. 

[Doug Wright]

RIP Harmon...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=capress-bbo_obit_killebrew-6874178&active_dimension=carousel_coke_today&ysp_frm_woah=1

[JMEvensky]

RIP Harmon...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=capress-bbo_obit_killebrew-6874178&active_dimension=carousel_coke_today&ysp_frm_woah=1

I had the good fortune of sitting behind him and his brother on a plane when we were each going to Cooperstown for the 1983 induction ceremony.He sat there the entire flight answering questions from a buddy and me--questions he had probably answered 1000 times.You don't often get to spend 2 hours talking baseball with a guy in the HOF.He couldn't have been more gracious.

What a great guy.

[Dan Kelly]

Class -- from Day 1 to the end.

That was Harmon Killebrew. See http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20110513&content_id=19005846&vkey=pr_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

He was not the Twins' only great player in those days -- but he WAS the Twins, as Kirby Puckett was later, and as no one else has ever been.

I'm feeling much older today.

[Rick Shefchik]

Since the Twins were swept from the playoffs last fall, it's like some sort of black plague has hit the Minnesota sports scene. The Vikings were horrendous, the pro basketball and hockey teams both played abysmally and missed the playoffs, the Gopher basketball and hockey teams collapsed and missed the NCAA tournaments (the basketball team didn't even make the NIT), the Twins are off to one of their worst starts in history, and now Harmon Killebrew dies.

And the weather has sucked since last fall.

We're paying for something, but damned if I can figure out what it is.

[Dan Kelly]

I will never forget my first Twins game in 1973. Bat day. Mickey Lolich v. Jim Kaat. We got there early for batting practice and I was mesmerized by the seats in the upper deck that had been marked to indicate where some of Killebrew's longest shots landed. 

There was only one such seat, in the upper deck of the left-field pavilion at Metropolitan Stadium. Killebrew was, I believe, the only player (certainly the only Twin) ever to hit a ball into that upper deck.

The marked seat now hangs from the wall at the Nickelodeon amusement park inside the Mall of America -- built on the site of Met Stadium.

There's a plaque where home plate was, too.

[JMEvensky]

We're paying for something, but damned if I can figure out what it is.

Allowing the Lincoln Del to close.Those pies should have been available in perpetuity.

[PCCraig]

I will never forget my first Twins game in 1973. Bat day. Mickey Lolich v. Jim Kaat. We got there early for batting practice and I was mesmerized by the seats in the upper deck that had been marked to indicate where some of Killebrew's longest shots landed. 

There was only one such seat, in the upper deck of the left-field pavilion at Metropolitan Stadium. Killebrew was, I believe, the only player (certainly the only Twin) ever to hit a ball into that upper deck.

The marked seat now hangs from the wall at the Nickelodeon amusement park inside the Mall of America -- built on the site of Met Stadium.

There's a plaque where home plate was, too.

I saw that the first and only (and maybe the last?) time I made a trip to the Mall of America and was very very impressed.

[Jud_T]

Pat,

Guaranteed that come next January you'll be spending a lot more time at the MOA...