The image of Twins slugging legend Harmon Killebrew could someday be on letters and packages, according to U.S. Postal Service officials.

Killebrew is "being considered to be immortalized on a stamp" by the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, said Postal Service spokesman Mark R. Saunders.

Saunders cautioned that there is a long process between "under consideration" and reality and declined to say who else might be up for the honor.

Nita Killebrew is spearheading a letter-writing campaign in support of commemorating her late husband, who died in 2011 at 74.

Harmon Killebrew always made sure "everyone he came in contact with knew they were significant," she said. "What can be more worthy?"

Saunders said that efforts such as Nita Killebrew's are welcome.

Associated Press - Ap, Star Tribune
Former Minnesota Twins baseball player Harmon Killebrew poses with a statue of him unveiled near Target Field in Minneapolis Saturday, April 3, 2010. Killebrew, played major league baseball for 22 years and was the American MVP in 1969 and lead the Twins to the World Series in 1965.

"There's power in the pen, so write [to the committee] early and often when submitting stamp ideas," he said.

The committee members receive thousands of suggestions every year, then "base their recommendations on national interest, historical perspective and other criteria," a Postal Service representative explained in a letter to U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin from West Virginia, a Killebrew stamp supporter.

Killebrew's 22-season major league career started in 1954, first with the Washington Senators, then continuing with the franchise after it moved to the Twin Cities in 1961.

The Hall of Famer retired in 1975 after one year with the Kansas City Royals. His career totals include 573 home runs (11th all-time) and 1,584 runs batted in.

The list of major-league ball players depicted on U.S. stamps is quite short. Among them: Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson and Minnesota native Roger Maris. Joining the roster in 2012 were Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby, Willie Stargell and Ted Williams.

Along with Maris, other Minnesotans honored include former Vice President Hubert Humphrey, actress Judy Garland, football hero Bronko Nagurski, authors F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sinclair Lewis, aviator Charles Lindbergh, health care pioneers Drs. Charles and William Mayo, and civil rights activist Roy Wilkins.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482