Originally published Friday, May 13, 2011 at 10:01 PM

Harmon Killebrew giving up fight against cancer | Baseball Notebook

The Hall of Fame slugger said he will enter hospice care after doctors deemed his esophageal cancer incurable.

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MINNEAPOLIS — Harmon Killebrew announced Friday that he no longer plans to fight his esophageal cancer and has settled in for the final days of his life, saddening friends and fans of the 74-year-old Hall of Fame slugger.

In a statement released jointly by the Minnesota Twins and the Baseball Hall of Fame, Killebrew said "it is with profound sadness" that he will no longer receive treatment for the "awful disease."

He said the cancer has been deemed incurable by his doctors, and he will enter hospice care.

"With the continued love and support of my wife, Nita, I have exhausted all options," Killebrew said.

He lives in the Phoenix area and was receiving treatment at a branch of the Mayo Clinic nearby after his diagnosis in December. A Twins spokesman said Killebrew's doctors gave no prognosis for how much longer he might live.

Killebrew is 11th on baseball's all-time home run list with 573. He was fifth on the career list when he retired in 1975.

Braves' McDowell returns

ATLANTA — Roger McDowell returned as Braves pitching coach and apologized for his crude conduct that led to a two-week suspension.

"I am not proud of the way I acted, and I know that it will not happen again," he said.

McDowell had a confrontation at a game in San Francisco in which he allegedly made lewd sexual gestures and comments to fans.

Notes

• Detroit OF Magglio Ordonez went back on the DL because of weakness in his surgically repaired right ankle.

• Mel Queen, a former major-league pitcher, coach and manager, died at age 69 in Toronto.

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