Expecting a perfunctory meeting about logistics for Cooperstown, Jim Kaat joined a Twins video call on Dec. 20. He was shocked to find Twins royalty waiting for him.
Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Joe Mauer, Tom Kelly, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek — the six living Twins whose numbers have been retired by the team — congratulated Kaat for joining their ranks. Kaat's No. 36, which he wore while winning 189 games — the most of any Twins pitcher — will be raised alongside theirs in a ceremony next summer, Carew told his former teammate.
It didn't hit him at first why the Twins greats had gathered, Kaat said. "Then when Rod began to talk about the retired numbers, I thought, 'Man, this is really cool,'" he said.
The retirement ceremony will be July 16 before a game against the Chicago White Sox, a team for which Kaat also had great success.
Kaat's 36 will be the 10th number retired by the Twins, joining Nos. 3 (Harmon Killebrew), 6 (Oliva), 7 (Mauer), 10 (Kelly), 14 (Hrbek), 28 (Blyleven), 29 (Carew), 34 (Kirby Puckett) and 42 (Jackie Robinson, retired leaguewide in 1997).
"We almost have a complete team," marveled Kaat, who became a broadcaster after he retired and still serves as an analyst for a handful of Twins games each summer. "It's such an honor. What's happened to me in the last six weeks has just been incredibly humbling. I'm so thankful to the Twins."
Kaat and former teammate Tony Oliva were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Dec. 5, ending decades of waiting for enshrinement in Cooperstown. They will be inducted on July 24, eight days after his number-retirement ceremony at Target Field.
"The winningest pitcher in Twins history — we probably should have done this a lot sooner," Twins President Dave St. Peter said. "But with Jim going into the Hall of Fame this summer, it felt like the ideal time to show our appreciation for his tremendous career."
