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2022 – 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 pre-game 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 10th Twins player or manager to have his number retired by the organization and is just the second pitcher, alongside Blyleven. The Twins, in conjunction with all of Major League Baseball, retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in 1997.
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).
2013 – Twins general manager Terry Ryan and former Pirates GM Larry Doughty received the George Genovese Lifetime Achievement Award in Scouting.
1990 – The Twins reacquired outfielder Jim Dwyer from Montreal and give up pitcher Jim Davins.
