MANKATO -- When Mankato's Northwood's League franchise changed ownership and names from the Mankato Mashers to the current Mankato MoonDogs, the club started a tradition of having a Twins legend kick off the season.

In this case, the first game of the new franchise was highlighted with an appearance by Harmon Killebrew.

In a statement released by the MoonDogs, owner Joe Schwei shared his thoughts on the loss of a legend.

"There was only one name we had in mind to have throw out the first pitch at the first ever MoonDogs game and that was Harmon Killebrew.

As everyone who had the pleasure of meeting Harmon knows, he was the most kind and gentle man you could meet.

I remember that first game. It was 75 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was a perfect night for baseball. The MoonDogs had their first sellout.

Harmon had been signing autographs for about 45 minutes, which is all he was obligated to do. I went over to him to take him back to his hotel. I asked him if he was ready to leave, even though we still had a line that looked like it was a couple of hundred feet long. Harmon said to me, 'We don't have to be the bad guys here, I'll stay here and sign.'

Two and a half hours later he finished. He signed an autograph for every single fan in the building. That was the kind of guy he was.

Every time I saw Harmon after that day, I thanked him for what he did that night and credited him with getting the MoonDogs started on the right foot.

He will be sorely missed."