The Minnesota Twins announced today that they will honor National Baseball Hall of Fame electee Jim Kaat by retiring his uniform number 36 during a pregame celebration on Saturday, July 16 prior to the Twins hosting the Chicago White Sox.
Kaat, 83, joins Harmon Killebrew (No. 3 – 1975), Rod Carew (No. 29 – 1987), Tony Oliva (No. 6 – 1991), Kent Hrbek (No. 14 – 1995), Kirby Puckett (No. 34 – 1997), Bert Blyleven (No. 28 – 2011), Tom Kelly (No. 10 – 2012) and Joe Mauer (No. 7 – 2019) as the ninth Twins player or manager to have his number retired by the organization, while he is also just the second pitcher, alongside Blyleven. The Twins, in conjunction with all of Major League Baseball, retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in 1997.
The Zeeland, Michigan native was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on December 5, 2021, and will join, among others, former teammate and fellow Twins legend Tony Oliva in the Class of 2022.
“For more than sixty years, Jim Kaat has been an important part of the fabric of the Minnesota Twins organization,” Twins Executive Chair Jim Pohlad said. “With ‘Kitty’s’ storied career on the field as well as his accolades in the broadcast booth and his contributions in the community in mind, the Twins family is proud to bestow our highest honor with the retirement of his jersey – number 36. We are excited to celebrate his decades-long commitment to Twins Territory, as well as his much-deserved and long-awaited induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, this coming season.”
Kaat went 283-237 (.544) with a 3.45 ERA (4530.1 IP, 1738 ER), 180 complete games, 31 shutouts, 17 saves, 1083 walks, 2461 strikeouts, a 1.26 WHIP and a .264 opponent batting average in 898 career games (625 starts) for Washington/Minnesota (1959-73), Chicago-AL (1973-75), Philadelphia (1976-79), New York-AL (1979-80) and St. Louis (1980-83). Kaat made his major league debut for the Washington Senators in 1959 and was a crucial part of the franchise’s starting rotation when it relocated to the Twin Cities in 1961. He won 10 or more games for the Twins in every season except for 1961, when he won nine, and is the club’s all-time leader in wins (189), games started (422) and innings pitched (2959.1), while ranking second in complete games (133), shutouts (23) and strikeouts (1824).
Kaat’s best campaign in Minnesota came in 1966, when he went 25-13 with a 2.75 ERA (304.2 IP, 93 ER), 55 walks and 205 strikeouts in 41 starts and earned the second of his three career All-Star nods (also, 1962 and ’75). The southpaw led the majors in starts that season and was tops in the American League in wins, complete games (19), innings pitched and batters faced (1227). His win total that year was tied with Juan Marichal for second in the majors, trailing only Sandy Koufax (27).
These performances cemented Kaat as one of the best pitchers in Minnesota franchise history. He was selected as the left-handed pitcher on the Twins 25th Anniversary Team in 1986 and 40th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2000, was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2001 and named one of the 50 Greatest Twins in 2010.
A hallmark of “Kitty’s” career was his athleticism and the longevity that came with it. He led all major league pitchers with 595 games started from 1961-78 and appeared in at least 15 games in 23 of his 25 seasons, tied with four others for the fourth-most such campaigns all time. Kaat, whose major league career spanned from 1959-83, is also one of 29 players in AL/NL history (1876-present) to appear in at least four different decades. He won 16 Gold Glove Awards in his 25 seasons – all consecutively from 1962-77 – and is tied with Brooks Robinson for second most all-time, behind fellow pitcher Greg Maddux (18).
Kaat found a home in the broadcast booth after his retirement from playing, winning seven Emmy Awards for his work. A natural storyteller and respected analyst, he has worked regular season games for both the Yankees (1986, 1995-2006) and Twins (1988-93, 2019-present), and over the years has taken part in national broadcast coverage of the AL Championship Series, World Series, College World Series, the Summer Olympics and the World Baseball Classic. In addition to his broadcast duties for Minnesota, he has been a fixture at TwinsFest, telling stories and creating lasting memories for Twins fans throughout the generations.
(MN Twins release/photo)
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