Jay Thomas Kelly will have his number 10 retired on Saturday and we here at Twins Trivia would like to add our congratulations for a well deserved honor. Kelly was originally drafted by the Seattle Pilots in round 8 of the 1968 amateur draft but the Seattle Pilots relocated after just one season in the Emerald city and moved to Milwaukee where they became the Brewers. Within days of being released by the Brewers in April of 1971, Kelly signed as a free agent with Minnesota. With the exception of 1976, Kelly has been in the Twins organization since 1971. Kelly has played for, coached and managed the Minnesota Twins and on occasion has even taken his turn at the microphone to describe Twins action on television.
Actually, over the years Tom Kelly has worn several different numbers with the Minnesota Twins. When he played 49 games for the Twins in 1975 he wore the number 16. When he coached the Twins from 1983-1986 he wore the number 41 and he wore that same number for the remainder of the 1986 season after being named as the Twins interim manager replacing Ray Miller who was relieved of his duties on September 12, 1986. Kelly then switched to the number 10 prior to the 1987 season and wore that number for the remainder of his Twins managing career through the 2001 season.
Who else has worn the Twins number 10 you ask? Here is the complete list now that no other Minnesota Twin will wear that number again.
1961-1967 – catcher Earl Battey 1968 – catcher John Roseboro 1868-1972 – 3B/OF Rick Renick 1973-1974 – 1B Joe Lis 1974 – 1B Pat Bourque 1975-1977 – OF Lyman Bostock 1978-1981 – OF Hosken Powell 1982-1983 – OF Bobby Mitchell 1984-1986 – catcher Jeff ReedSince Tom Kelly last wore the number 10 in 2001, no other Twins have ever that number.