May 16, 2021 marked the tenth anniversary of the passing of the one of the finest human beings I have ever known, one Harmon Clayton Killebrew. I first learned of Harmon Killebrew while watching him play for the Minnesota Twins in the 1970 American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles. The New York Mets had not qualified for the playoffs and thus I didn't really care all that much about who made the World Series. I sensed that the Twins were definite underdogs to the Orioles who were loaded with talent from top to bottom and I liked that aspect of their game.
As a kid I had learned what the logo of each team looked like as I would see them on the baseball cards which I collected for many years. I knew them all upon immediate sight except for one. What was with the interlocking T and C? How did they get "Minnesota" from that? But I followed the instructions and eventually came to recognize it without hesitation after a short period of time. I could never have imagined that I would actually be in the employ of said organization and only 21 years later I would find myself on the field celebrating a world championship wearing that exact TC logo on my head.
Life is like that, I guess.
Fast forward to 2001.
I had the chance to go on the Minnesota Twins Winter Caravan. On January 14th I set forth in a new Dodge Caravan for Winnipeg in a snowstorm that intensified as I drove further north. Before the drive I was kinda bummed in that the NFC Championship game was being played that day. One of the participants was my favorite team, the Minnesota Vikings. They were on the road in New York against the Giants in the game which would decide one participant in the Super Bowl, against either the Ravens or the Raiders.
Well, the Vikings were trailing 34-0 at the half, so the decision to hit I-35 earlier than planned was a virtual "no-brainer". I was to meet the Twins group at a restaurant in Winnipeg the following morning but the road conditions were such that I decided to stop for the night at the Super 8 in a little town called Hallock.
After a good night's sleep I made my way into Winnipeg and met up with the group. The active players on this leg of Caravan were local hero Corey Koskie and AJ Pierzynski. Also along with us were television play-by-play man Dick Bremer and Twins legend Harmon Killebrew. I hadn't had the pleasure of spending much time with Harmon to this point but he soon had me as a huge fan just from his incredible kindness towards others and his humble personality about who he was to so many upper midwesterners.
After the restaurant appearance which kicked off the week's activities we moved to a school which third baseman Corey Koskie had attended as a younger man. Following the school visit we were scheduled to be at our hotel for a dinner where all involved would participate in a Q&A. This is where I made my first appearance of the trip in my appointed role.
My role? Oh yeah, I hadn't filled you in on that yet. You see, I was T.C. Bear. Now, those who already knew this are merely nodding your heads. Those of you who did NOT know this are rubbing your eyes and re-reading that sentence. But it is true. I was T.C. Bear. Cheerful, fun-loving, power-hitting bear from the land of 10,000 lakes. (12,000 is more accurate, but I digress). I entered the lobby near the banquet room and met Goldy, the Winnipeg Goldyeye. The Goldyeyes are a professional baseball team who played in the Northern League at the time and are now in the American Association. A goldeye is actually a fish. Goldy and I, both in full costume, met and for the first time and without being able to exchange greetings verbally worked our ways into a card game which we played WITHOUT ANY CARDS. When it was time for the dinner to begin we both got up from the floor and made our way to the elevator where we revealed our true identities. Turns out Goldy Goldeye was actually Justin Timberlake.
No, that's not true. Not true at all.
The next morning we all arose to head toward the border. In my car were Dick Bremer and Harmon himself. We arrived at the U.S. border around 11 a.m. or so. When I rolled the window down the agent asked where we were going and who was in the car along with me. When I mentioned the name Harmon Killebrew, he sprung to attentiveness and said, "Really?". I leaned forward and turned to Harmon and told him to say hello. Harmon leans forward and graciously says, "Hi there". The agent is now speechless. His day had been made and he would have stories to tell his fellow agents for weeks to come. He probably talks about it to this day.
Life is like that, I guess.
My "down time" with Harmon was so cool. Humble to a fault and incredibly gracious he was as kind to everyone he encountered as anyone I've ever seen. I remember saying to him, "You're the Major League Baseball logo aren't you?" He told me that it wasn't him and I rolled my eyes in mild disbelief. I told him that everyone knows that the NBA logo is Jerry West and he's the MLB guy. Harmon says supposedly a designer came up with it but that he saw a photo of himself in the MLB offices around the time it was released in the late 1960s. He actually IS the model for the MLB Players Association Alumni.
Through the week we made numerous stops on our trek back toward the twin cities. Stops in places like Thief River Falls and the mining town of Iron Mountain were on the agenda for the next couple of days. It was sufficiently cold to where being in a bear suit was a very advantageous. Mid-week Dick Bremer returned to the cities and was replaced by Jim Cunningham. I hadn't spent much time around Jim prior to the trip but he is also a class act. An incredibly loving father and husband who I am so lucky to have met and to this day I value his friendship.
With our final night of Caravan behind us we were on our way south and hungry. I had the luck to be in the Dodge Caravan with AJ Pierzynski, Jim Cunningham and Harmon himself. We decided upon Tobies's Restaurant in Hinckley. Not having grown up in the Minnesota I was unaware of the legendary status that Tobie's held, but it was our choice for the evening. The four of us found a table and we chatted about the week that had just passed and the game of baseball in general. Dozens of patrons looked at our table and wondered if it really was Harmon in the flesh. I just nodded and slowly and sheepishly people stopped by and chatted and got the occasional autograph, which Harmon signed graciously.
On our drive home we discussed many things about the game, but most of the time was spent discussing superstitions on and off the field. While I don't believe Harmon had many, AJ has a litany of them, which we all chuckled at.
Over time I grew to appreciate my time with Harmon more and more, especially after I left the Twins organization only 12 months later, just prior to the 2002 Caravan began.
I feel incredibly fortunate to have known Harmon as much as I did. The photo which appeared on my Facebook page on the 5th anniversary of his passing was actually taken by one of our season ticket holders and I never even knew of its existence for weeks when I received it in the mail at the ballpark. It is one of my all-time favorite photos of my collection.
Sometimes it's all about timing.
Life is like that, I guess.
.......I'm just sayin'.
