Harmon Killebrew Quotations

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, 'You're tearing up the grass'; 'We're not raising grass,' Dad would reply. 'We're raising boys.'

I'm not a quitter. All my career, I went through a lot of physical adversity, injuries. It's in my nature to be a battler.

I didn't have evil intentions, but I guess I did have power.

I found out early in life that I could hit a baseball farther than most players, and that's what I tried to do.

It takes a lot of dedication to quit smoking, and whether you give up for good on your first try or have to give it a couple of tries - just keep swinging at it and you will succeed.

Hitting .400 is something you can do by yourself. But you have to rely on guys getting on base at the right time to drive in that many runs.

I was set to go to Oregon to play college baseball and football.

Life is precious and time is a key element. Let's make every moment count and help those who have a greater need than our own.

I want to say that maybe I've made some wrong decisions, but I'm still an honorable person, and I intend to take care of all of my obligations.

When I was 14, and for the next four years, I was lifting and hauling 10-gallon milk cans full of milk. That will put muscles on you even if you're not trying.

Hospice is such a tremendous thing. Patients seem to reach an inner peace.

The Mayo Clinic is one of the largest and most experienced medical centers treating esophageal cancer in the world.

At Tiger Stadium, the dugouts are so low that you walk in and hit your head on the ceiling. People would say, 'Don't feel bad. Ty Cobb did the same thing.'

I didn't think much about batting average when I was playing.

No matter what, I've always been an optimistic person.

Pitchers are smart. They know they are much better off if they mix things up and keep you off-balance.

Joe Mauer's the real deal. He is absolutely wonderful. Not only is he a great player, but he's a great human being. He's the kind of guy you'd like to see be your son.

There was a time when rival teams used a shift against me. They would put the second baseman on the shortstop's side of the bag, move the shortstop into the hole to his right, and have the third baseman hug the foul line. The idea was to build an infield wall against a known right-handed pull hitter.

It must be nice for today's hitters when you don't have to worry about being thrown at. It's a whole different deal. When I played, getting knocked down was an accepted part of the game.

I speak very highly of Jim Thome. Not only is he a great player, but he's a great individual.

In baseball, you pack your uniform in the clubhouse after a ball game, and you see it hanging up in your locker when you get to your next city.

Society doesn't like to deal with death, but it is a natural part of living.

The people in the Upper Midwest were the same kind of people I grew up around in Idaho.

I always tried to watch the pitcher and his complete windup from the moment he had the ball in his glove all the way through his motion, and tried to follow it all the way out of his hand, all the way to home plate.

I don't think we've been together for a long time. I can't remember the last time, ... Right up until that final out of the seventh game, we still had a chance to win. It was a great World Series.

I don't want anybody cheating to get there, that's for sure. It's a shame, any cloud that hangs over baseball, and this is certainly a big, big cloud. It needs to get cleaned up.

He might not have looked good in a baseball uniform, but he made that uniform look good on him.

He was in a very happy, positive mood at the time of his passing. He was in love and excited about getting married.

Kirby was in the process of completely changing his life.

That's a very good question. Major League Baseball has to make it clear what it wants to do. They're the ones on the spot.

The problems he had were in the outfield. When you first saw him out there, 'How is he ever going to be able to play?' But Tony stayed with it, and became a good outfielder.

We (who) played the game don't like hearing that that was done. It's difficult not having been involved with that stuff (to know) what it does, but nobody ever hit that many home runs before.

Tony had that problem with throwing his bat,

Believe it or not, we had fun playing the game, too. And I don't see that so much anymore. It's great to see these guys again.

There's a little sadness to it, too because some of the guys that were lost over the years, that aren't here with us.

It's a mess whichever way you look at it. There would normally be big hoopla, I'm sure. The commissioner would make a big deal out of it. I just hate to see this cloud over the game.

I remember one spring when I was doing the team's telecasts, Bob Allison was with me, and we were walking through the clubhouse in Orlando. This kid who was trying to make it with the Twins as an outfielder came up to me and asked who was that with me. I said that's Bob Allison, and you better hope you have as good a career as he had.

Look for the seams (on a knuckleball) and then hit in-between them.

We're not raising grass. We're raising boys.

It's very disappointing... Anything that harms the integrity of the game is terrible. We always thought we were immune to drugs in baseball, but we know that's not true anymore.

I found out early in life that I could hit a baseball farther than most players and that's what I tried to do,

How the hell can you play here?

I spent twenty-two seasons playing professional baseball. Naturally, success in that field is measured by batting averages, number of home runs and RBIs, fielding averages, ERAs and other statistics. Fame, notoriety and the bright lights fade quickly. To me, true success in life would be to develop both physically and spiritually to our fullest and to endure to the end!