The Minnesota Twins signed Marwin Gonzalez as a free agent in February 2019 because he could play a number of positions and he was a solid player both with his glove and his bat. The Twins plan was to play Gonzalez most every day at a different position to give manager Rocco Baldelli the flexibility to give the regulars a day off on a regular basis. Hopefully that plan would allow for more rest for the “regulars” throughout the season. Gonzalez ended up playing in 114 games with appearances in the OF (59), 3B (40), 1B (21), DH (3), 2B (2) and 1B (1).
Some time ago I did a series of posts that I called my “Top 10 lists” about the best Twins players at each position and Harmon Killebrew did not make the cut in any of the positions. How is it possible you ask that a Hall of Famer that played 1,939 games in Twins colors (and 390 more as a Washington Senator) is not the best player at any position? The simple answer is that Harmon Killebrew did not play at least 51% of his games at any one position and that was an arbitrary figure that I chose to see who qualified at a position.
Killebrew started his career as a “bonus baby” with the Washington Senators in 1954. The bonus rule was a rule instituted by Major League Baseball in 1947 that prevented teams from assigning certain players to farm teams. The rule stipulated that when a major league team signed a player to a contract in excess of $4,000 ($45,800 today), the team was required to keep that player on their 25-man active roster for two full seasons. Any team that failed to comply with the rule lost the rights to that player’s contract, and the player was then exposed to the waiver wire. Once a player remained with the team for two full seasons, he could be assigned a farm team without repercussions. The rule went through several variations until it was finally abolished in 1965, when the Major League Baseball draft was initiated.
Killebrew’s first two (ages 18-19) seasons with the Washington were pretty much wasted as he appeared in just 9 games with 15 PA’s in 1954 playing second base three times, appearing as a PH twice and coming in as a pinch-runner four times. In 1955 Killebrew appeared in 38 games with 89 PA’s playing 23 games at third base, 3 games at second base and he pinch-hit on 15 occasions. Killebrew spent most of 1956-1958 in the minors and played in just 66 big league games over that three year span. It was not until 1959 that Harmon Killebrew became a starter playing 150 games at third base and 4 more in the outfield. In 1960, his final season as a Senator, he played in 124 games, 71 at first base and 65 at third base.
By the time the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins, Harmon Killebrew was already a feared slugger with one home run crown on his resume. While a Minnesota Twin he played at the following positions:
- 1961 – 119 at first base, 45 at third base, and 4 in the outfield
- 1962 – 151 in the outfield and 4 at first base
- 1963 – 137 in the outfield
- 1964 – 157 in the outfield
- 1965 – 72 at first base and 43 at third base
- 1966 – 107 at third base, 42 at first base and 2 in the outfield
- 1967 – 160 at first base and 3 at third base
- 1968 – 77 at first base and 11 at third base
- 1969 – 105 at third base and 81 at first base
- 1970 – 139 at third base and 28 at first base
- 1971 – 90 at first base and 74 at third base
- 1972 – 130 games at first base
- 1973 – 57 games at first base and 9 as the DH
- 1974 – 33 games at first base and 57 games as the DH (at the age of 38)
When his Twins career ended Killebrew had played 45% of his games at first base, 37% of his games at third base, 22% of his games in the outfield. The Twins granted Harmon Killebrew his release after the 1974 season and he played one final season for the Kansas City Royals.
Kind of an odd mixture of positions for a Hall of Fame player but the Killer as fans loved to call him, was in it to win it and he was willing to play wherever the manager or in some cases the owner wanted him to play. Killebrew could not be called a true super utility player but he possessed enough skills to play first, third and the outfield. It had to be tough to show up for Spring Training not knowing what position you were going to play that season and we will never know what impact that had on Harmon’s hitting. Killebrew may have not made my Top 10 lists on this site but when Harmon stepped to the plate everyone stopped whatever they were doing and either watched or listened as the big guy took his swings. Killebrew had his share of strikeouts, 1,699, but he also walked 1,559 times and ended his career with a .892 OPS. Heck of a ballplayer and when you think of the Minnesota Twins, Harmon Killebrew’s name has to be the one that you think of first.