Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3230, a bill that honors Idaho's greatest athlete and one of our great humanitarians. H.R. 3230 names the post office in Payette, Idaho, after Harmon Killebrew, a Hall of Fame baseball player who later built an incredible legacy of charitable work. Idahoans take great pride in Harmon Killebrew's success, and rightfully so. Killebrew's career began in 1954 when Herman Welker, the U.S. Senator from Idaho, tipped off the owner of the Washington Senators, Clark Griffith, about the 17-year-old slugger. Griffith sent a scout, who almost didn't get to see Killebrew play. After a night of rain, groundkeepers burned gasoline to make the field playable. Killebrew did his part by hitting a ball 435 feet into a Payette beet field. Immediately signed as a $12,000 bonus baby, Killebrew debuted a few weeks later. During his 22-year career with the Washington Senators, Minnesota Twins, and Kansas City Royals, he hit 573 home runs, more than all but four major league players at the time of his retirement. He was the American league's most valuable player in 1969, hitting 49 home runs and driving in 140 runs. He played in 13 All-Star games and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Killebrew built his strength lifting 10-gallon milk cans on Idaho dairies and leveraged his work ethic into legendary status.…”