R.I.P. Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011)

All-or-nothing sluggers. The monicker applies to players who specialize in one particular thing on the baseball diamond. They hit home runs. They don't do much else.

Over the past few decades, major league baseball has seen its share of all-or-nothing sluggers. Former players such as Dave Kingman, Rob Deer, Pete Incaviglia and Mark McGwire hit tape measure home runs that caused many jaws to drop, a tradition that has been continued by current players such as Adam Dunn and Mark Reynolds, to name a few. Of course, if these hitters weren't hitting balls over the wall, they were probably heading back to the dugout after their at-bats.

Hamon Killebrew was one such player. In a career that spanned 22 seasons (1954-1975), the man with "harm" and "kill" in his name slugged 573 home runs, hitting 40 or more eight times. However, he only hit 290 doubles, never hitting more than 27 over a full season and finished his career with a .256 batting average and almost 1,700 strikeouts.

Killebrew was an all-or-nothing slugger before the term even existed. But despite being fearsome at the plate, the man known as "Killer" was a gentle giant off the field, treating everyone he met, from current players to fans at card shows, with the same respect. It was that respect that made him one of the most beloved figures in Minnesota Twins' history.

Earlier today, Harmon Killebrew lost his battle with esophageal cancer at the age of 74. Although this is a Mets blog, we couldn't let the day pass without mentioning the passing of a Hall of Famer and true baseball legend, regardless of which team's uniform he put on. (And for those who need a Mets connection, Harmon Killebrew went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI in the 1964 All-Star Game, the only Midsummer Classic ever played at Shea Stadium.)

Harmon Killebrew might have specialized in one thing on the baseball field, but that one thing was enough to make him a beloved figure, respected by Twins fans and followers of baseball alike. He may have "harmed" a few earned run averages by "killing" a baseball or two (or 573), but the soft-spoken Killebrew was anything but what his name suggested.

All-or-nothing? To Twins fans, Harmon Killebrew was all-and-everything. May he rest in peace.