Washington DC (670 KBOI News) – The US Post Office on Center Street in Payette is now one step closer to being named for a local hero, that made opposing baseball players shake in their cleats when he stepped up to bat.
First District Congressman Raúl Labrador sponsored the bill to name the post office after Harmon Killebrew, whose 22-year career in the majors earned him a number of honors.
He told his congressional colleagues Killebrew was hitting over .800 for a semi-pro team, when Idaho Senator Herman Welker told Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith about him.
“Griffith sent a scout, who almost didn’t get to see Killebrew play,” Labrador said. “After a night of rain, groundskeepers burned gasoline to make the field playable. Killebrew did his part by hitting a ball 435 feet, into a Payette beet field.”
Killebrew was named the American League MVP in 1969, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. After retiring, he founded a charitable golf tournament in Sun Valley, to raise money for cancer research. The Killebrew-Thompson Memorial Golf Tournament is set for next month.
Harmon Killebrew died in 2011.
