Taking some Hall of Fame advice, Jim Kaat keeps remarks short at jersey retirement

Jim Kaat's No. 36 will no longer be in rotation.

The Twins retired it Saturday in a pregame ceremony, displaying his number between Jackie Robinson's No. 42 and Joe Mauer's No. 7 off the left-field deck at Target Field.

Kaat, who will also join the National Baseball Hall of Fame next weekend in Cooperstown, N.Y., first played for the Washington Senators in 1959 before moving with the team to the Twin Cities in 1961. He's the franchise's all-time leader in wins (189), games started (422) and innings pitched (2,959⅓). He stayed with the Twins until 1973 but remained in the league until 1983 with various other teams before becoming a broadcaster.

The pregame ceremony was a who's who of Twins elite, from Tony Oliva to Michael Cuddyer to Bob Costas via a special video tribute. And the festivities were actually pretty succinct, for which everyone can thank Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. The Dodgers great called Kaat to congratulate him for his coming Cooperstown induction and gave him some key advice.

"His last words to me, he said, 'Now, look, keep your speech short,' " Kaat said with a laugh. "'They all get annoyed if guys go on forever.' "