Harmon Killebrew was a stocky 5 ft 11 in, 210 pound hitter with a short, compact swing that generated tremendous power. Killebrew became one of the American League's most feared power hitters of the 1960s, belting 40 homers in a season eight times. In 1965 he helped the Twins reach the World Series, where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Killebrew had his finest season in 1969, hitting 49 home runs, driving in 140 RBI's, and winning the MVP Award.

Killebrew led the league in home runs six times, in RBI three times, and was named to eleven All Star teams. As a result, he was nicknamed "Killer" - linking the first 5 letters of his last name with his legendary hitting ability.

Killebrew hit 573 home runs in his career (eighth best all time, most by an American League right-hander, and second in the AL only to Babe Ruth, as of 2005) and drove in 1,584 runs. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1984, the first Minnesota Twin to be so honored. The street along the south side of the enormous Mall of America, the former site of the Metropolitan Stadium ("The Met"), has been named "Killebrew Drive" in honor of Harmon Killebrew. His uniform number 3 was the first to be retired by the Twins, and is only one of five Twins to have their jersey retired — Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett are the others. He is, by a wide margin, the all-time home run leader among players born in the state of Idaho.