a memorial patch for harmon killebrew

harmon killebrew, 'killer' as he was known, died in may of 2011 as a result of esophageal cancer.  the twins were quick to add a number 3 patch to their right sleeves in his honor, and i believe they also wore their 1963 throwback uniforms at home for the remainder of the season.

here's ben revere's 2012 bowman card which displays the patch  

as does danny valencia's 2012 topps opening day card

and liam hendrik's 2012 topps allen & ginter

and 2012 topps heritage cards

since they use the same photo.

here's a 2012 topps red bordered card of joe mauer, courtesy of minneapolis-based target

as well as a cognac parallel of franscisco liriano

and a regular ol' base card of matt capps

also from 2012 topps, each showing the patch.

i believe that the patch the team wore with their blue alternate jerseys had a white border that the other patch did not.  so, i have this 2012 topps luke hughes card in the memorial binder.

as for the more frequently worn jerseys, i knew right away that i wanted a card of jim thome to represent killebrew's memorial patch in my collection, and this 2012 topps golden moments insert didn't disappoint

but this thome highlight/checklist card from 2012 topps is even better

thome and killebrew developed a special friendship during thome's short stay with the twins - the slugger passed killebrew on the all-time home run list during his time in the twin cities - so it seems fitting for this card to be in the binder.  the card celebrates thome's 600th career home run, a milestone that killebrew fell short of, although his 573 roundtrippers were good enough for fifth all-time when killer retired following the 1975 season.

as anyone who ever approached killebrew for an autograph will tell you, he was a gracious man.  i had the opportunity to speak with him briefly a couple of times, and he left me with the feeling each time that we could have talked for hours.  rest in peace, harmon.